


A Lighthouse In Volantis

by 29years



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, Game of Thrones (TV), Game of Thrones RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Brienne of Tarth Deserves Better, Daenerys Targaryen Deserves Better, Daenerys Targaryen Is Not a Mad Queen, Daenerys Targaryen Lives, Drogon is a good boy, F/M, Gendry is a Baratheon, Jaime Lannister Deserves Better, Jon Snow is a Targaryen, Jorah Mormont Lives, Minor Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth, Missandei (ASoIaF) Lives, Past Jon Snow/Daenerys Targaryen, Post-Canon Fix-It, Pregnant Daenerys Targaryen, Resurrection, Targaryen Babies, Targlings (ASoIaF)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-06-26 03:16:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 28,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19759477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/29years/pseuds/29years
Summary: A god could do anything, couldn't he?





	1. I

**Author's Note:**

> I'm such a sap for Jorah x Daenerys that I've been trying to keep track of more fics than what I should.

_ Volantis _

Kinvara asked her what she needed the most, that the Lord of Light was merciful and because she voluntarily gave her help to end the Long Night he was willing to give what she wanted. Anything at all.

"Jorah and Missandei", she said immediately, she could have asked for so many things, the Iron Throne, revenge, death for her enemies, gold and a new kingdom. Instead she asked for the ones she had needed the most and weren't there when she was all alone.

The High Priestess looked at her with apprehension, "without bodies we cannot bring them back".

Hopeful lilac eyes glanced back. "A god could do anything, couldn't he? It's just the two of them, please, ask him, just ask".

The woman nodded and went back to the temple. Daenerys stared out the window watching Drogon race in the sky, to stop midair and then race again. Her house was in the border of the village, on the edge of a cliff. An old man had gotten the house for her just to avoid dying of a heart attack everytime Drogon flew past his farm. She had been back for only a few weeks and didn't know how to find her people without putting herself in danger.

Ravens were forbidden, Bran could see anything she wrote through their eyes. Kinvara had assured her that he would not be able to see her in Volantis, the power of R'hllor would not allow him to. Sending Drogon was another idea, yet she was afraid that someone would try to kill him like they did with Rhaegal. And then, she would be truly alone.

Maybe, if the Priests could bring her friends back she wouldn't have to worry about being on her own. It was only a dream, though, she didn't even considered having them back as a possibility. But she had to ask anyway.

Daenerys went to the temple everyday asking if they had succeeded, Kinvara gave her the same answer all the time, "if the Lord makes it happen, you will be the first to know".

She could see the worshippers chanting in different languages from the door. Some were screaming and others barely muttering. The High Priestess assured her that every single person on the temple was begging R'hllor to listen to her. They would keep asking until he gave them an answer whether he would do it or not.

The only good thing was that Kinvara had sent Priests across Essos and the Narrow Sea to find her friends. The woman thought that it was the safest way for Daenerys to communicate with them without being seen by the Three Eyed Raven. The bad thing was that she had to wait for months of travelling just to get a letter if her people didn't come straight away.

A month had passed when a consistent knock on her door in the night woke her up. She opened the door to see a woman dressed in red in front of her. She knew that the god had given an answer so she followed the woman across the sleeping town, avoiding the occasional drunk coming out of the tavern and the fishermen that were going to work.

The woman directed her to a side entrance to the temple instead of the main door. Daenerys followed through a labyrinth of hallways, doors and sets of stairs until they finally reached the highest roof of the temple of Volantis. She didn't understand why she had been brought there, but the woman pointed her to Kinvara and asked her to go on.

Dawn was about to start, she could see the first rays of sunshine creeping on the horizon. The Priestess told her to come and see it with her. As they were standing there, on a Hall of the temple two Priestess in cloaks were touching the red stones in their necklaces while staring into the big fire that cracked in the middle of a sacrificial room.

Hours had gone by since Daenerys was called to the temple and she couldn't stand it anymore. The excruciating fear of not getting what she wanted combined with the hours standing in the sun and the hunger were making her feel ill. Drogon felt her fear and started to circulate closer to the temple, he was not allowed to come down since he came the first time with her limp body in his claws destroying half the side entrance in his landing. There were pieces of stone still falling from the ceilings once in a while.

Another adorer came behind them and let them know that R'hllor had given an answer. Daenerys wanted to throw up as she clambered the stairs down behind a nonchalant Kinvara who walked as slowly as she could maintaining her grace in every step. They reached a Hall and walked into the place. It was more a Courtyard than a room, with it's ceiling gone, thanks to Drogon, and the fire as tall as the pillars burning in the middle.

The Targaryen could barely see other thing than flames but she heard from the speaking worshippers that two Priestess had walked into the fire and their screams had died long ago. She felt guilty for it, that she had made them sacrifice themselves for not even a flicker of hope to succeed. Drogon landed staring into the fire carefully clawing the floor, as if minding his movements so he wouldn't destroy anything again.The people in the courtyard moved away from him instantly. She would have laughed if it wasn't for the bile threatening to rise up.

Daenerys didn't know what happened when they arrived in Volantis exactly, although Kinvara had said something about parts of nearby towns and the temple smoking for days because Drogon kept reigniting the fires in his pain. He only stopped when his mother commanded him to. The silver haired woman thought that what he did proved that her son was not just a mindless beast.

As the day progressed the fire seemed to die down without results. Some Priests were leaving slowly, others chanted strongly. Daenerys felt that their efforts were for nothing and the despair and grief of facing the world alone took over. Her tears flowed freely as she thought about Jorah, who had died before she was able to tell him he wasn't just a servant. Missandei, who died in chains as her Queen was powerless to do anything. Grey Worm, who hadn't answered even with a letter and Daario, who she had to leave behind because one of her traitors suggested it.

She wondered if Tyrion was planning to betray her even then, in that moment when she named him Hand of the Queen because she had lost two people in such a short time and he was the best choice she had. Maybe Varys had tried to poison her but relented after seeing how many soldiers were in her command and only tried after half her forces died. She thought about Jon Snow, her own blood, who claimed absolute loyalty just to betray her twice, first sharing information about his lineage and later putting a knife through her breast.

Her sorrow turned to rage, because most of her traitors were still alive and well according to the news that crossed the Narrow Sea, while her most faithful friends were dead. Drogon sensing it did the only thing a dragon could do and spit fire onto the half dying embers of the pyre the priests had built. His screeches caused more people to come to the 'new' yard of the temple, the priests that left returned as well.

Daenerys didn't know if it was fear of her son or the reigniting fire that caused for the priests to take a renewed strength in their chants. More devotees went to the courtyard to join the clamoring, and every time the fire was caving Drogon breathed on it. For three days they kept asking R'hllor to bring back Jorah Mormont of Bear Island and Missandei of Naath.

On the fourth day Daenerys felt herself waver in her feet because of lack of sleep and hunger. A Priest grabbed her by the waist to keep her upright, another gave her water and a woman gave her a cup of broth to drink. The beverage was enough to keep her alert a few more hours but not to maintain her upright. She sat on a step and watched how everything distorted around her, the worshippers became distant shadows while the flames of the fire lulled her to sleep. As she closed her eyes she could hear the chanting get louder and shadows move in the fire.


	2. II

Daenerys woke to the voices of a whispered conversation on the other side of the door. The bed felt uncomfortable, opening her eyes she noticed the room was not her own, for the carvings on the bedframe and the windows she realized she was still in the temple. She padded to the door and opened it to find Kinvara speaking with other Priests.

"Your Grace", one of them said in surprise.

"I'm not the Queen of anything", she replied ashamed.

The High Priestess dismissed them and turned to Daenerys. "Walk with me", smiled motioning to the hall that lead to the gardens.

Worried about her dragon creating a mess while she was asleep, the Targaryen couldn't help to ask with trepidation, "Did Drogon do something?"

The Red woman laughed, "No, he's been sleeping peacefully in our new patio".

Dread filled her heart, "it didn't work".

"Not entirely. Well, some see them in the flames and others don't. That is what we were discussing. We can't really tell because he's been refusing to leave the place and has attacked every person who tried to pry his wings open."

"Then we should go right now." She didn't wanted to hold onto her hope any longer. Her body was already shifting towards the courtyard, when Kinvara stopped her with a hand on her wrist.

"Before you go, there is something else that you need to know." Seeing her pained expression, the Red woman added, "but maybe wait until later would be best".

Daenerys gratefully smiled and walked away. In the courtyard a few men were trying in vain to move Drogon from his sleeping place. He roared at them for poking his skin with sticks curling himself a little tighter. When a boy accidentally hit him in the eye, he reared his head back, fire forming in his throat.

_"Drōgon daor"_ , she screamed from the side.

(Drogon no.)

He huffed putting his snout on someone's head. The panicked soldier grew completely still while the dragon ejected the fire towards the giant hole in the wall he had made the first time there.

_"Ivestragī nyke ūndegon",_ she ordered.

(Let me see.)

Black wings moved for her to see what he was guarding. A blackened hand stained with coal and smoke poked out from under his crouched body. She had to enter underneath Drogon crawling to see better. Her heartbeat accelerated and she screamed for help, asking her son to leave. He barely moved to the side so the brave soldiers of the temple dragged the coal blackened bodies out.

The Priests took the limp forms to a room ready with two bathtubs filled with water. Daenerys hovered around trying to get a glimpse but the ocean of red wouldn't let her see anything. Kinvara gave orders around to the ones working, there was too much soot adhered to them. Each one of them had a rag and a bucket of water to clean limbs, torsos and heads in the most meticulous way. They had to change the water several times just to be able to distinguish their features better.

Finally, they placed them reverently on two beds in another room covering them with the sheets on it. A priestess called Daenerys to enter the room. She went to the middle of the beds staring at the peaceful faces of the people on them.

Anguished eyes looked back at Kinvara to confirm that they were seeing the same, that it was not a trick. The Red woman understood her fear and smiled, encouraging her to sit in the chair between them. Daenerys took one pale hand in each of her own crying in joy.

Despite the pallid color on their skins both looked as themselves. Jorah didn't had a single scar on his arms and chest. Missandei lacked the mark that should be on her neck. Daenerys took their hands onto her lap, caressing them with her fingers.

Two soldiers came back with the necklaces of the dead priestesses on their hands. They had charred clothes and claw marks on their arms. Apparently Drogon had made himself a home at the patio. Kinvara took the chains and placed them on their necks.

Missandei's eyes were the first to flutter open. She gulped a breath of air in panic. Daenerys tensed afraid that she would be angry at her. Instead when the black haired girl's eyes focused on her she knew something terrible had happened.

“Grey Worm?”, she asked softly.

Daenerys shook her head, tears forming in her eyes. “I don’t know.”

Missandei's arms went around her frame and Daenerys weeped for the first time since her own resurrection.

A while later both were eating what the slaves had brought them. There was a served plate of food waiting on the table for Jorah. Missandei was grateful for the clothes a priestess gave her earlier. Daenerys wouldn't tell her exactly what was wrong but she knew to the very least that they weren't in Westeros. The languages that she could hear as people walked near the door were Essosi. And the influx of Red women and men told her they were on a temple, she didn't knew if Westeros had one.

Missandei noted that Daenerys didn't let go of Jorah's hand except for eating. And that the knight was not supposed to be there either since his body had been burned. She tried to ask what happened a few times but Daenerys brushed her questions aside, not wanting to give her a direct reply. Realizing her friend needed company she just took her hand in her own and sat against the wall after finishing their meal. That night they slept sharing the bed with their backs against the wall.


	3. III

A man came to the room asking for help. The worshippers of the Lord of Light needed to use the courtyard where Drogon was sleeping and had not been able to send him away. Daenerys gave the command for him to leave and the dragon barely huffed at her closing its eyes. She gave up after the seventh intent, he did not move as much as an inch in the entire time. With an apologetic glance at the man she left back to the room.

Getting closer to the bedroom she could hear talking. Sharing a concerned look with Missandei she went inside to find a half dressed Jorah trying to ask questions to the Essosi men that were helping him to stand.

His frantic eyes regarded the newcomers and he ceased all movement. He exhaled in relief, "you're alive".

Daenerys darted towards him wrapping her arms around his naked torso. He hesitatingly put his arms on her small frame looking down at her. Jorah did not mind the proximity at all. Thought he wanted to know why they were in that place, the only answer he got from the people there was that they were at the temple in Volantis of the Lord of Light.

At least Daenerys was safe, that was all he cared about. Although he didn't have a sword or a knife to defend her if someone tried to harm her.

* * *

"Did we lost the war against the dead?" He asked Missandei when Daenerys had to leave again because of Drogon.

"No, we won. But I died right after you and Daenerys refuses to answer my inquiries." The girl looked apprehensively at him.

He paused in his eating for a second. “I was dead?”

The Naathi replied with curiosity. “Yes, you don’t remember?”

“Yes, but…”, Jorah didn’t know what to think yet, it seemed like a dream now. “I'm sorry you passed away. What happened when I was gone? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Missandei filled him in on the few events that she could remember after he died. Jorah listened to everything trying to memorize the most information he could in such a short time. 

“Where is everyone else? It's strange that not one of them are here. Not even..." Grey Worm was left unsaid.

"I think she will tell us in time." Missandei was already waiting for the worst news.

“Probably.” They ate in silence after that.

* * *

Jorah walked to the courtyard to find Daenerys asking Drogon to leave the place and failing miserably. He smiled at the tiny Targaryen trying to push a huge beast out of his bed. Drogon caught sight of him and pushed his snout against his shoulder so hard Jorah had to grab a scale to avoid falling.

"You haven't done that in a long time", he laughed at the creature.

"He missed you." Daenerys said.

"I think he just enjoys tripping me into the floor". He replied as Drogon pushed him a little more.

"That might be right as well", she smirked.

Kinvara came back after days of being forced to worship R'hllor on the other side of the temple because of the enormous dragon that refused to leave. The temple was one of the biggest in Volantis, so the other side meant travelling quite a distance.

The Red woman saw the three of them talking to Drogon, asking him to move to the gardens where he could sprawl a little better rather than crouch in such an uncomfortable position. The dragon nuzzled the Targaryen's cheek and she sighed in annoyance.

"Since when you don't listen to me?" She reprehended.

Kinvara spoke from the side door that still remained, "I think I might be able to help".

The three of them startled. Daenerys saw a man standing next to the Priestess with a pile of books in his arms. She still couldn't help to feel bothered by all the slaves that worked at the temple, not that she could do anything now. Specially since the people of the temple had given her something no one else could.

Jorah approached the man to take the books from him, Missandei took a few to read the titles and gave one to Daenerys.

"They are written in High Valyrian, a few Priests have gone to The Doom to find anything they could save many years ago. This is some of the things they came back with. They made copies of those books they could recover. This ones are yours now, there is no one else who can make use of them."

"Thank you", Daenerys reverently pressed her fingers on the tattered covers.

Kinvara left then to read taking advantage of the sunlight pouring straight to the courtyard. A table and three chairs were brought to them so they wouldn't sit on the floor. The group sat for hours reading the books and even continued through the night in their little room under the candlelights. It was Missandei who found what they were looking for.

"Eggs", the black haired girl whispered drawing the attention of the other two.

"Drogon is protecting its eggs", she put the book in the table for them to see.

Jorah reread the page three times, "How is it possible?"

"I don't know, it only says it's one behavior dragons have".

Daenerys stood up, "let's see it for ourselves".

Jorah took the sheets of the bed, a few clothes and rags from a shelf that the people of the temple had given them and an old sack he found on the way to the patio.

"There's no need for that here, Jorah, the people only care about R'hllor in Volantis." Daenerys stopped mid walk to look at him.

"We should be wary nonetheless, not every person on the temple could be a worshipper of the Lord of Light. Anyone could enter freely."

Daenerys pressed her lips in a tin line thinking about who exactly would try to do that. She replied a little too harshly, walking away. "You're right, let's go".

Jorah shared a look of bewilderment with Missandei before entering the patio. A conversation needed to happen when the right time came. They found their Queen crawling under Drogon, moving a wing aside to get further in. The sound of rummaging, Drogon's complaints and the swirls of soot told them that the beast had not squashed her with his weight.

Light was filtering through the destroyed ceiling, only a few bricks of it remained near the walls. Since Daenerys had to press her body to the floor and search with her fingers between what she hoped were carbonised pieces of wood it took her awhile to find anything. Jorah crouched trying to take a look between the wings and limbs of the dragon who remained unmoved except to growl once or twice.

The Targaryen came out holding a black dragon egg in her arms. She was completely covered in black soot, causing the others to contain their laughter.

"Is that the only one?" Jorah asked handing her the rags.

"No, there are more. Three more I think." She had the biggest smile that he had ever seen.

Slowly she recovered all of them and they snuck the eggs to the room. After cleaning them, the color of the eggs were distinguished. One was charcoal black, one was a deep red like the gems on the necklaces Jorah and Missandei wore, the other was a deep green and the last one had a combination of the three other colours.

After they removed the eggs Drogon flew away. The High Priestess came to thank them for the empty patio and found them with the eggs. Kinvara recommended that no one saw them, the fewer people that knew the better, news could fly away quickly and the temple of Volantis could only hold back small armies with their thousand soldiers. So it was decided that they would go back to her home that day.

The Priestess gave them horses just to be safe and more rucksacks. Jorah took two eggs in his and each girl had one with them. The soldiers were ordered to give him a few knives, a sword and a spear. He promised to return them if nothing happened. The men didn't seem to mind.

They were mindful to avoid places with the biggests conglomerations of people so it took them a longer time to reach the house since the most deserted road was around the village. The group arrived in the afternoon to find a blur of people at the door from a far. Jorah put himself in front of them until the little figures were seen better. A small formation of six Unsullied waited in front of the door.

Grey Worm had not believed what the sorcerers told him so he sent his Second on command with a group of trusted men. The warriors could not believe what they were seeing as the three people in front of them came down the horses. One of them asked to Jorah what the others would not dare to say.

_ "Kostagon nyke renigon ao?" _

(May I touch you?)

He nodded yes and all the Unsullied reached for his arms and shoulders in worderment. Missandei and Daenerys gave them handshakes causing the Second in command to show as much joy as he was capable of.

_ "Skoriot iksis Torgo Nudho?" _

(Where is Grey Worm?) Asked Daenerys.

"The island of Naath. It's not far, he can come in a month if the winds are in favour. We can send a raven now."

"No, ravens are too dangerous. The Three Eyed Raven can see through them." Jorah frowned when he heard that.

"Then we sail now and come back in two months." The soldier replied.

"I can go with them." Missandei suggested. Daenerys was pained to lose her again but it was the best choice they had, Grey Worm would listen to her if Daenerys herself didn’t make the trip. Besides Jorah and Drogon would stay behind with her.

"Alright, but you must stay the night, I don't want you to have an accident." The six warriors agreed and entered the house behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used a online translator to High Valyrian so accuracy might not be the best.


	4. IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One more surprise.

Before leaving in the morning the Unsullied in charge gave Daenerys a little coffin with coins to last her a few months.

"Grey Worm gave this for the Queen, _if_ she was here. We have taken half of everything with us. The Dothraki have the other half." He said goodbye to his Queen and left.

Daenerys had tried to explain that she was not the Queen anymore but the soldier seemed to reject her comments and kept using her former title. She grew tired and let him do what he wanted. Missandei gave her a hug to reassure her before leaving. Yet she didn't feel alright at all.

After they left Jorah went from side to side on the house checking every corner and crevice to find the best spot to hide the eggs. He found a room with a mirror on it and saw his reflection, he stared at it in disbelief. Not only all of his scars and greyscale signs were gone, he was around the same age he was when he met the Khaleesi, maybe younger.

"Strange isn't it?" Her voice startled him, he saw her on the mirror as well standing behind him.

"It is", he said back. Jorah touched his face with his now uninjured hand, getting closer to it. Being back from death felt strange. "How long have I been dead?"

"Months, I don't know how many".

"How long were _you_ dead?" He turned to see her face.

Daenerys hitched a breath, Jorah always knew everything about her before she dared to say anything out loud. "What makes you think I was dead?"

Jorah lifted his eyebrows in mirth, "you are alone in Volantis, a place filled with slaves but it doesn't bother you, without your armies, without one of your dragons and you have been avoiding all of our questions about what happened before we were brought back. The Priests could have brought you back as well."

She haughtily looked out the hall, "you're right, I was".

He was the one shocked now, he was only jesting "how?"

The Targaryen turned around and left, he followed at a brisk pace. "Your Grace, how?"

"I am not _'Your Grace'_ anymore".

She reached a desk on the entryway, taking a dagger with dried blood on it from the drawer. Handing him the weapon with tears forming in her eyes, Daenerys gave him an answer, "I was stabbed through the heart by a traitor".

Jorah was the one in tears now, "Who?"

Drogon flew by with his wings spread out, near the door. Daenerys watched the dragon go down the edge of the cliff. He almost couldn't hear her whisper as the beast screeched, "Jon Snow".

* * *

She found him sitting on the cliff watching the ships sailing from the shore. Jorah Mormont in red priest clothes was a funny sight to anyone who really knew him. Daenerys sat beside him, with the sound of the seagulls and Drogon's snores nearby filling the silence.

"I gave him my family sword", he broke the silence.

"What?" She furrowed her eyebrows.

Jorah looked at her, "He tried to return my family sword to me and I thought... that he would use it to protect you, so I let him have it."

"Longclaw was yours?"

"Yes, I should have asked it for Lyanna."

"At least he didn't used it to kill me". She tried to lighten the mood.

"Are you not angry at him?" He was surprised that she hadn't tried to do anything.

"I still don't know if he was right to do it or not." She confessed.

Jorah was going to refute her when she interlinked their fingers and put her head on his shoulder, with that Daenerys ended the conversation. They stared at the harbor until the hunger forced them to go back into the house.

* * *

"How did you get this house? I've noticed it's the biggest one in town." 

"The farmer who owns it won the house on a bet with the Lord who lived here. It's too far away from his land, so it was empty, as he lives on the other side of the town, closer to the temple. He offered me this place when I was living in there because Drogon kept flying lowly near his farm and he was terrified to be eaten."

Jorah chuckled, sometimes he had been afraid of the same, more with Drogon that the others. Specially since the black one was the one who jumped on him to surprise him at all times and as he grew he was not aware of what his dimensions could cause on a human being.

"There's something I need to tell you." Amethyst eyes locked with his.

He grew worried, what more could occur now. He inched closer to her, "What?"

"Lyanna is dead. She died in the Battle with the dead."

He grew sullen, not knowing what to say. It was obviously a given, since they were completely overrun. He hadn't stopped to think about it, thought. Now his house was truly dead.

"You are the last member of House Mormont, if you wanted you could ask Sansa Stark to give you back the Lordship." She jested.

"And why would I do that?"

"To go home."

"With them in power? The people that betrayed you? They would kill me on sight, how would I explain coming back to life. And they know I'm only loyal to you." He wanted to reach for her but refrained from it.

"I'm not telling you to leave, I'm letting you know." It made her grateful that he wouldn't even think about leaving her when she had nothing while other people turned their backs on her the moment Jon opened his mouth.

"Good, because I'm not leaving you alone again." He huffed.

* * *

Kinvara interrupted their dinner to talk to Daenerys. Jorah noticed that it was not something for him to hear so he slipped out to door.

The Priestess saw him leave from the doorway." He was not in Meereen when I visited you", the woman commented.

"No, I had found out he was keeping something from me."

"He betrayed you." The woman raised her eyebrow.

"Yes, he did."

"Yet, he died for you. He must love you very much."

"He does." Daenerys couldn't help the little smile.

“I can see that he will help you with anything you ask him to.” Kinvara hummed looking at Jorah sitting on the cliff with Drogon dancing circles around him and spitting short flames of fire. Besides the moon, it was the only source of light on the village. 

Daenerys got up and stood beside her. "Have you come to tell me what you wanted to say in the gardens?"

The Priestess returned her eyes towards the silver haired one. "Yes, one of the Maesters in the temple treated you when we resurrected you. The man is convinced that you are with child."

The Targaryen was stunned. "It can’t be, it’s impossible. I've been cursed, a witch told me I would never have children."

"Perhaps dying was a good thing, then. The Lord of Light ended that curse the moment he brought you back."

Daenerys had to sit down again, she was overwhelmed and didn't know what to do. It would explain how she couldn't stand the smell of fish sometimes and her feeling of sickness on the odd mornings. Kinvara left to find Jorah. Drogon stopped his flying to stare at her. The man followed the line of sight and seeing the Red woman approaching, he got up to meet her halfway.

"The Mother of Dragons needs you", she said and left.

Jorah ran through the door calling for her. He found her sitting in a chair. "Daenerys?"

Her pained purple eyes stared through the window, there was no answer. He went to his knees before her, taking her hands in his. Calling for her again didn't work.

"I'm going to bed." She announced and left.

Her screams in the middle of the night woke him up in fright. He jumped out of bed, sword in hand, and ran to her bedroom. Daenerys was sitting in bed alone sobbing. He sat on the bed next to her putting a hand on her back. She clung tightly to his red shirt. He stayed with her till sunlight filtered through the windows. Jorah waited for her to fall asleep again to leave, he was halfway out when her voice made him stop.

"Don't leave." It was a mumbled request that she gave with half lidded eyes, barely holding onto the edge of consciousness. He came back to sit on an empty chair next to the bed holding her hand.

* * *

Daenerys had been on a mood for days, she would sulk alone most of the time, eat in silence whatever he cooked and sat for hours on the cliff with a mal humoured Drogon next to her puffing clouds of smoke from his nostrils. 'Just what I need, two angry dragons', Jorah thought to himself.

During the nights it was always the same routine, she woke screaming and he would hold her hand through the night. Sleeping on the chair was taking a tool on Jorah but he never complained. The truth came out on a particularly bad nightmare, that day it had been raining hard, the only thing they could do was sit around and wait for the downpour to stop.

Jorah was holding her while a thunderstorm raged outside. It was so strong that Drogon hid in a cave under the cliff. The Andal was staring out the window, the lightnings cracked hard enough to scare the villagers. 

It was in that moment that Daenerys finally spoke. "I'm pregnant".

He looked down at her tear streaked eyes and reflexively cleaned a tear with his thumb. "That's good news, Khaleesi".

She almost smiled at the endearment, half her face was illuminated by the lightnings. "It's his".

Jorah's heart froze. "Did he know?"

"No." She watched the storm outside as she absentmindedly played with the strings on his shirt. "Now I know he killed the both of us".

Jorah held her a little tighter to his chest. That night he didn't dare move from her side so he fell asleep with his back against the wall. He woke the next day with the light rain falling out the window, Daenerys was standing near the bed with a cup of tea in hand, she handed it to him and left.

He went after her to the kitchen and sat down to eat breakfast.

"How far along are you?" He asked, the bump was more noticeable now. Or maybe he didn't saw it before because he didn't know what to look for.

"I don't know, a little over four or five months maybe". She tried to calculate between the last time she had lain with him and the time she had been alive again.

Jorah was thoughtful for a second. He wanted to find a cradle already but after what happened with Rhaego he knew that Daenerys would not want to be happy until she had the baby in her arms. He would have to go to the village to find a few things they needed and see what they had to sell.

She could see him thinking ahead, he would not sit idly and wait for the baby to come. Daenerys didn't have to say how afraid she was, Jorah knew, he had seen what became of her son when he was born. An arm wrapped itself around her shoulders without her needing to ask for it. No one else would have understood, of all the people who had been with her the day her son was born he was the only one left. She thought that not even Jon would have been able to comprehend the fear she felt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cause, yeah, who doesn't love kids. (?)


	5. V

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first friend arrives

They were getting themselves ready to go to the market when there was a knock on the door. Jorah made her go further inside and kept one hand on the sword as he opened the door. He almost groaned at the sight in front of him.

Daario Naharis didn't usually get surprised by anything, but seeing a healthy and younger Mormont alive was not something he expected to see that day. It was so unbelievable that he laughed. "I heard you died, how is it that you always find ways to survive, even in death?"

Jorah was too surprised by the hug to notice that Daenerys had left her hiding place. Daario froze at her sight. "I cannot believe…"

He took two steps closer to see her properly. "How?"

Daenerys told him part of the story on their way to the market, Daario had insisted to accompany them. As the story progressed his mood grew from happy to angry.

"That little dwarf, I should have hung him when I had the chance". He spat at the tavern.

Jorah was hearing the story for the first time. He felt guilty for telling her to trust Tyrion and Sansa. The good thing about having Naharis around was that his excitement to see them again made him forget what he was angry about.

Daario told them how everything was going in Meereen. He had met a girl and was planning on asking her to marry him. The cities of Astapor and Yunkai were thriving with the people he put in charge and the former slaves had started to work on routes for trading with products that were their own.

Also, he confessed that when the Red Priest came to look for him asking him to go to a house in Volantis but refused to say what was there he was suspicious. After what happened to her he had been extremely careful in case someone tried to overthrow her memory and hard work. It wasn't until the Priest wore him down that he begrudgingly accepted to travel, only to shut him up.

His men had stayed on the outskirts of Volantis waiting for him, since bringing an entire entourage would call more attention upon him. Daenerys suggested to let them know he was fine through someone from the temple, the Priests travelled from all around Essos to come and go into their biggest adoration center. The group passed to the temple before going back to the house. It gave him time to stay but not more than a week, he couldn't leave Meereen on the hands of his Second in command for too long.

* * *

The two men sat on the edge of the cliff as Daenerys took a bath. They could see Drogon fishing near the surface of the water, his black scales reflecting the sun as he flapped his wings.

"It would be safer to be in Meereen if there's a baby coming", Daario commented in complete nonchalance with his arms supporting his weight behind him.

Jorah eyed him, "How can you tell, I barely saw it only after she told me".

Naharis laughed, "she doesn't have a big bump but she never waddled before, and she's grumpier".

"I thought it was because of…"

"... the knife to the heart? Yes, that could be too. Whose is it? Grey Worm can't, I can't even think about Tyrion doing it, and you're too faithful to get near her without marriage."

Jorah harrumphed in complaint, and added. "Jon Snow. It is his."

"When I heard about it I wanted to kill him, I still do. The only thing stopping me was thinking that the moment I left with the Second Sons from Meereen the slavers would come back to destroy everything she worked so hard for. Remaining in place was the way to prove her traitors wrong."

"It would not have worked, he has an all seeing brother. You would have been dead before leaving Essos. I think that's the reason Daenerys stays here, the High Priestess assured her that the Three Eyed Raven can't see anything in Volantis because R'hllor doesn't allow it."

"Well, I can dream about it then." Daario said as he laid back on the grass. "And why are the two of you dressed in red? Have you joined the faith of R'hllor?"

"It's the clothes that the Priests gave us. I didn't come back to life with a pouch of gold".

Daario punched him shoulder, "I can't believe it took death for you to become a comedian  _ and _ magically younger. How old are you? And how old do you look?"

"I was around my forty fifth nameday, don't know if I should count the months of not existing as well. But I seem to be somewhere around my late thirties and early forties."

Daario barked a laugh, "still an old man".

Before Jorah could retort Daenerys appeared to sit down in the middle of them. They sat there as Drogon dragged something to shore and burned it to eat.

Naharis was watching him, " _ What _ is he eating?"

Daenerys directed her gaze down the beach were the dragon perched himself on top of a rock while the fishermen worked around him. "I don't know, but his breath will be dreadful for days."

"The villagers are not afraid of him?" Daario asked with curiosity.

"Most of them no, they think he is a descendant of the Lord of Light."

"I never thought to see the day when religion would work in favour of someone."

Jorah would have laughed if it wasn't because he had a god to be thankful for his life. The chain around his neck and the red jewel on his chest were a testament of it. Daario noticed him touching the stone.

"So you  _ are _ a Priest now." He pointed to the crimson gem.

"No, I woke up with it." He started to take the chain from under his shirt to remove it.

Daenerys stopped him putting her hand atop his, "Don't! Melisandre died after removing hers."

Jorah gulped thinking he had to be more careful with it if the same could happen to him. He put the gemstone back inside the shirt with care; absentmindedly he patted it against his chest keeping his hand there half a second.

* * *

Daario and Jorah were trying to convince Daenerys of requesting the carpenter to build a cradle, she still had time for it. She gave arguments against it. There wasn't enough money (which Daario knew it was a lie since he had brought more than plenty and Grey Worm had sent a chest as well), what if they did something to it, the baby could sleep next to her, there were many beds on the house that could be adapted, etc. Jorah got tired of it and watched them argue from his seat at the table, they were standing right in front of him.

"It doesn't even have to be a cradle, it can be a small bed".

"The baby can sleep with me."

"Not this again", he moaned, "You know you could crush him accidentally. It would be safer."

"The Dothraki women have done it for years."

"Yes, well, the Dothraki are not here." Daario waved his hand as to show her the empty house they were standing in. Daenerys stormed out of the room in tears.

"What did I say?" Daario asked the other man.

Jorah took pity of him and told him about Rhaego, how he was born completely covered in scales, how he looked as the charred meat that Drogon liked to eat and how he disintegrated when he held him in his arms. Besides, Daenerys was worried because after months there was no sign of her Dothrakis and she feared that something bad happened to them in Westeros.

Daario sighed and went to look for her. He entered her bedroom to find her sitting in bed, tear flowed freely as she tried to wipe them away. He sat next to her putting a hand on her back.

"The babe will be fine." He said as he hugged her closer to him.

"Have you been talking to Jorah?" She didn't have the strength to be angry at him.

Daario nodded. "He told me about Rhaego."

"It wasn't the only one. I lost ours when Drogon left me wandering alone after what happened in the fighting pit of Meereen."

Daario was shocked to hear about it. "You never told me anything."

"I was scared that something bad would happen and it did." A crying pregnant woman was not something that Naharis knew how to handle, so he said the best thing he could against those odds.

"This one will be fine, it will look like you and probably it will talk and glower like Jorah." That forced a laugh out of her.

"What if it looks like  _ him _ ?" Daenerys sniffed before speaking.

"What did he look like?"

"Black hair and brown eyes."

"Then we'll dye it's hair blond, or red and the three of you can be the Red Family of Volantis." He joked.

"And what if they come for my baby? To take it from me or kill it?" Her eyes looked up at his.

Daario's eyes hardened. "We won't let them. We will fight to keep the child safe, no matter the cost. Even if we all have to live in The Doom just to keep  _ them _ away. You have the Unsullied in Naath, the people of Meereen, Astapor, Yunkai  _ and _ Volantis on your side. The Dothraki will answer as well, just give them time. If the Westerosi try, they won't win. Not against all of us on our own land."

That seemed to put her at ease. They stayed talking about Daario's doings in Meereen. He told her a couple anecdotes about his ruling to cheer her up. He narrated how he accidentally created a fight between two farmers because one had asked for more land to work and he gave the one occupied next to him instead of the empty lot on the other side. Also he told her that the Red Priest that came for him always found him on the weirdest places, and that the man was so relentless that in the end he had made himself a place on the Throne Room just to stare at him at all audiences.

"It was creepy, I swear. The creepiest man I have met in my entire life. And I have been everywhere in Essos."

She laughed at the description of the Priest. "I know him, he is an extremely shy man. And they are not so bad, you get used to them."

"Yes, they are good. After all, they brought you back to us." Their cheeriness turned into a solemn silence. Daenerys was wondering what would have happened if she refused to leave him behind and Daario wondered if the child they lost would have been a girl or a boy.

* * *

Kinvara visited them when they were finishing breakfast. Jorah let her in without knowing what to do with himself. Daario realized that the women were supposed to talk alone so he stood up as well.

"We are going to the tavern, there's some mead I want to test."

Daenerys gave him an incredulous look, "now?"

"Yes, it's the perfect time. Besides, we would love to take you but pregnant women can't drink."

He pushed a hesitant Jorah out the door and they walked into town in silence. The knight was going begrudgingly since he didn't want to leave Daenerys alone.

"We should go to the tailor, Mormont, I can't stand watching you in Red. Between the Lord of Light bringing you back, your clothes, living with a dragon and a Targaryen you'll end up setting things on fire just for fun."

Jorah growled in complaint, "there's nothing wrong with my clothes, besides, I don't have any money."

Daario dropped a pouch on his hand. "There's a good thing I brought so much money, then. Seriously, red doesn't become you."

Jorah accepted to go only because Naharis would not stop his nagging until he caved. They were on the way to the market when he caught sight of the carpenter's shop. He stopped dead in his tracks, the other one reached his side to see the same thing.

"You should do it." He said from behind.

"What?" He pretended not to understand.

"You want to ask for the carpenter to start making the cradle before it's too late." Daario said as a matter of fact.

Jorah eyed him, "she would be angry if the baby is a stillborn".

"She would be happy if it's not. Besides, if and only if something bad happens you can just ask Drogon to burn it, or give it to the people at the temple, they take children as offerings all the time. She would never have to know."

The blond was still doubtful as Daario pushed him into the shop. The man at the shop was working on a table when they entered, he left his instruments to tend to them.

"Can I offer you something, Priest?"

Daario snickered as Jorah was baffled for a second, his red stone was showing under the laces of the shirt.

"I… want to place an order for a cradle", he stammered.

"When do you need it?" The carpenter took a parchment to start drawing the design.

"A few months from now, two or maybe three?" He was too nervous to even calculate the right time.

Daario added, "three would do."

"Do you want carvings on it?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Jorah was about to sweat in embarrassment, he never had to buy a cradle before, his family in Bear Island just had them around waiting for the next child to be born. And Daario there didn't help either.

"Carvings as in drawings. Most people ask for elephants, whales, sharks, lizards, birds, fishes. Others ask for flowers and trees." The man showed them one cradle he was working on with turtles and elephants on it.

Both men shared a look, Daario lifted his eyebrows suggestively, Jorah turned his blue eyes to the seller and asked, "Could you do dragons?"

"Like the big one that lives here now?"

"Yes, exactly like that one."

"I could, he flies near my house every morning. I have seen him many times to know to draw and carve one."

"Three dragons, then, together on one side."

"And the other?"

Daario had a mischievous look on his eyes. "Do you know how to do bears?"

"Yes", the carpenter was making little drawings of the sides of the cradle on the parchment.

He grew excited, "add one, and a woman with a babe, and something about the Lord of Light, my friend here is a worshipper as you can see". Jorah almost rolled his eyes.

As the man asked everything about the size, wood, colour and shape of the cradle Jorah nervously gave replies begging the gods that Daenerys didn't found out about it and didn't get angry either.

"Is your first child?" The carpenter asked thinking his jittering was for being father for the first time rather than an angry Targaryen at home.

"Yes, he's really excited", Daario answered clapping Mormont on the shoulder.

The blond gave a restrained smile to the carpenter. After the man had everything written and they paid him half the money, agreeing to pay the other half when the Knight came for it, they left the shop to walk around the market looking for the tailor.

"Why did you tell him it was mine?"

"What do you think  _ they _ are going to do when the tale about a silver haired girl having a silver haired child with purple eyes living in Volantis with a man that's not the father reaches them?"

"It could look like him".

"Let's hope not, thought hair dye is a common thing even for children here in Essos. Both the kid and Daenerys could change their hair".

"People in here wouldn't tell".

"You're right, they wouldn't. But it takes one lonely merchant from another place, maybe even Westeros to reach them. Just one gossiper that says that she lives here and assassins would come to your door everyday."

"I still don't see it." Mormont grouched.

Daario almost moaned. "There's a reason people call you The Andal, your hair is too light to be just blond. If you tell everyone it's yours then they'll probably leave you alone. Also, gossip always changes tales from their real story. By the time they hear about it all they are going to hear is 'a slightly blonde girl lives across the narrow sea with her slightly blond child and husband'".

"You are counting on the gossip to transform for them not to come?" Jorah gave him a skeptical look.

"Obviously".

"And what about Drogon living near the blonde girl's house?"

"The dragon is growing blind and found someone who reminds him of Daenerys to live near."

"That's the most stupid idea you've ever had." The bear scoffed.

Daario shrugged, "it's the best one I've got."

At the tailor Jorah was about to grab a yellow shirt when Naharis swatted his hand away.

"Now what?" He grunted.

"Tyrion Lannister knows you preferred this colour when you lived here."

"I only had one shirt when I met him."

"No more yellow for you, choose another one."

"I don't see how…"

"It only takes one good gossiper." He warned.

"Then what do you suggest?"

Daario grabbed white shirts, blue ones, a few in green, two in grey and a red one just for joking. "This one's for when you feel closer to R'hllor".

"Now we should get some things for Daenerys. And your babe, of course. You don't want the kid to dress in bedsheets, do you?" He took his time to place an order, it was already midday when they left the place.

Afterwards they went to buy food and back home. Kinvara was just leaving when they reached the pathway to the door. Daenerys was standing on the doorway waiting for them with a smile.

"You are not drunk, are you?" She asked them.

"I wish I was", Jorah complained under his breath as he entered. It was loud enough for her to hear, causing Daenerys to snicker lightly.

* * *

Daario had everything ready to leave. His stay had taken two weeks and in order to reach Meereen on time he was taking a ship that went straight there around Old Valyria with no detours. It was quicker than riding, as he had come to Volantis so he left them the horses he and his men had used to arrive. The were standing on a side in the port, careful not to be heard by strangers. Daenerys had covered her hair with a scarf just to be safe.

"If something happens, come straight to Meereen."

"Everything will be alright."

"Send Drogon if you need anything. Do you think he can clutch letters on his little...?" He asked suddenly, making claw hands. Jorah placed his hand on his face.

Daenerys laughed, "I don't think he can. We'll find a way to put a harness on him if it's necessary."

"Oh, that would be a better idea. And I can send things back."

The captain let him know it was time to go. He hugged Daenerys as tightly as he could, her bump had grown considerably in a couple of days. "I'll come back in three or four months, hopefully to see a little wailing child in your arms."

He hugged Jorah just to annoy him, turned and boarded the ship. Daenerys cried as he waved them goodbye. Drogon soared through the skies on top of the ship for a little while and went back to the cliff. They stayed watching him leave until the vessel was a little speck on the ocean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like more Daario now that I liked him before. Can't explain it. Maybe it's because comparing him to Jon, Daario in my mind wins. Mostly because he didn't murder Daenerys.


	6. VI Westeros

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> News from across The Narrow Sea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This section I called it Westeros Today

**_Storm's End_ ** _(a few months ago)_

Gendry Baratheon was drowning in parchments he didn't understand about coin, food and requests from nobles and commoners. The worst part of it all was that he didn't know how to read, so he had to ask someone else to tell him what those parchments said. Usually it was Brienne or Davos who read him those things. This time, thought, none of them were available and he had thought that he could at least read a word after a few lessons with Davos. It didn't work. He couldn't get one word out, so he left the desk and took a walk outside.

He was silently enjoying his outing when a Red Priest came to talk to him. He recognized the red garbs on him instantly and his day became worse than before.

"I swear if you come to talk about the Lord of Light I will kill you." He warned.

The man hummed looking at the ocean. "I have not come for that, you don't need to worry".

"Oh, then what have you come for?" He put the hammer down leaning on it.

"What would you do if I told you there's someone waiting for you in Essos?"

"Someone like what?"

"Someone like family, the last living one you have."

"I would like to meet them."

"I think they would like to see you too." The man said before turning to leave.

"Wait, I have already met them?"

"Yes." The man said before continuing entering the port.

"Where will I find them?"

"In Volantis, all you need to do is follow the moving lights at night."

"What kind of lights? What kind of lights?" He asked but the man had already disappeared from view.

* * *

**_King's Landing_ ** _(a few months ago)_

Tyrion was in the company of Bronn for the third time that week. Boredom was slowly killing them, they had nothing to do other than moving sacks of food from one side of Westeros to the other one.

Bronn broke the silence, "Have you heard that the Dothrakis had some sort of assembly a few days ago?"

Tyrion moved around his cup of wine, "No, they have secluded themselves completely from all Westeros. I do know that they refuse to move into the castle we gave them."

"A trader came recently, he said that he was selling wine near their camp when their screams could be heard. They seemed to be having a violent arguing between them."

Tyrion nonchalantly waved around a hand, "they must be choosing a new Khal since Daenerys is gone". A touch of guilt hit his heart at saying her name.

Bronn looked at him wearily, "there is something else I have to ask you about that, but I don't think there is a right place and time for it".

Tyrion knew exactly what his friend wanted to talk about, and he also knew that he _had_ to keep his mouth shut, there was no other way. "Just, if there is a right moment and time, that is, say it then."

"I don't think I'll ever find it, but at least I know I'm not the only one worried. Do you want to watch Davos complaining about the size of the ships today?"

"Oh, yes, please".

* * *

**_Storm's End_ ** _(a few months ago)_

Lord Baratheon had gone to the second feast in his entire life and it was a disaster. He hated the music, hated the talk about the prosperity of the realm, hated the nobles that pretended to like him but were sorry not to have his position and absolutely loathed the amount of mothers that brought their daughters to meet him as if they were selling silks on the market.

Arya had not written one letter, not that he could read them, and her travels were going to take her a long time. Probably years. He thought again about that Priest and the chance to see someone who actually wanted to _see him_ in Volantis. He could leave everything in charge of Davos or Brienne, it's not as if they needed him much in the Stormlands. It was a few months, the people could live without him for a couple of months. Stannis had been dead for a long time until he arrived.

If the winds were exceptionally good he could get there in two months. If not, at least three and a half. He could take a year, maybe. If Arya could do it, why not him? He didn't even enjoyed being a lord. All he wanted to do was do something else, work as a blacksmith if he had to, he didn't hated it, and he didn't wanted to get too soft, or so much of a Lord that he wouldn't do anything more than sit around at a desk and go to feasts for the rest of his life. He didn’t want to become lazy as his father in his final days.

If he left now it meant that he wouldn't have time to acclimate to be a Lord. He could be Gendry instead of 'My Lord'. And maybe, if he liked it a lot more than living at Storm's End, he could stay there for good living near his last living relative. Whoever it was. If Arya ever came back, she would be able to find him. Travelling a little further to Essos was nothing for someone who left to the West looking for something that might not even be there.

So he made the decision right there to leave. He packed two bags, one with all of his blacksmith working tools that he still clung to, and one with clothes, food, a copy of the Baratheon family tree that one of the Lords was kind enough to copy for him with drawings of the shields and three Baratheon House Rings, those were just as a reminder that if something went wrong he could come back to Westeros. On his belt he put two pouches with enough coins for a couple of months.

Brienne and Davos were surprised to see the Lord of the Stormlands dressed in his old clothes when he called for them. It was early in the morning and he had arranged with a merchant ship that went straight to Volantis that they would take him with them in exchange of work.

"My Lord, where are you going?" Brienne asked.

"I'm going to Essos".

"You can't just leave right now, the people need you."

"I can't stay, I don't want to stay either. There's something I need to do and it has to be now."

Davos chose that moment to speak, "Did the Lords in here do something to you? Because we could certainly put a little fear into them if it's necessary."

"No, they did nothing wrong. Lord Dondarrion already knows about it and has been tasked with telling the others. I also said that one of you would be in charge until my return… _If_ I return."

Brienne stuttered, "you have only been Lord Baratheon for a few months. You might like it in time."

Gendry asked, "did you ever liked being just a _Lady_ , Ser Brienne?"

"No." She protectively put her hand on the hilt of her sword.

"I don't like it either." They understood that there was no convincing to do, he had taken his decision and would not be moved from it, just like his father had done when he started a war.

* * *

**_The Riverlands_ ** _(a few months earlier)_

Yara Greyjoy got of her ship, one of the last ones the Ironborn had, to go to the Dothraki camp. She didn't have a need to spent time with them but went anyway just out of boredom. In a kingdom were the King could see everything before it happened there was no movement for rebellions. Not that she could do one at the moment, the Ironborn were low on people, unless she put children to fight. So she contented herself with seeing the Dothraki.

Not that she could talk to them, she didn't knew a word of their language and they barely knew a few of the Common Tongue. Yet, they always found their common ground on wine and drinking was something she could do everyday. On her way to the tents she noticed a Red Priestess that went on horse in front of her, she didn't pay much attention to the woman since it became normal to see them roaming around since _The_ _Long Night_.

She arrived at camp to hear the woman speaking with some men in their tongue, they started screaming for others and in less than five minutes the entire people were around her. As the Red Priestess spoke several people gasped in shock, others in disbelief. There was a scuffle between the Khals, and Yara only saw them screaming at each other. It seemed as if someone wanted to kill the woman and a the others wouldn't allow it.

The Ironborn wasn't too far away from them but the difficulty in language made impossible to understand what they were saying. Finally, one of the men won out and he turned to let the rest of the Khalasar know what the Red woman said. Yara only could hear the words _Khaleesi_ and _thir._ The entire Khalasar started screaming in celebration.

It wasn't until the woman came to her and said the exact same message in the Common Tong that she realized what they were talking about. Between the wailing of the women and the war cries of the men she could hear the faint words of the Priestess: _Daenerys is alive in Volantis._

* * *

**_King's Landing_ ** _(a few months ago)_

Bronn was sitting on the desk on his tavern, it was brand new an was doing well. Only with Tyrion he made more money than he needed every month, the Lannister was drinking his guilt away and he was profiting from it. If he was a good friend he would ask himself why Tyrion was buying enough wine to bathe in it. If only.

The morning was near, it was too early for him to be awake but his mind had been reeling with thoughts about what was happening in _The Riverlands._ The Dothraki had finally claimed the castle they had refused to take for themselves and closed the doors to any Westerosi they didn't trust, except for the Ironborn, Dornish and Essosi traders and the people that lived in Dragonstone. Yara Greyjoy traveled to _Dorne_ to make a trading deal with Quentyn Martell, although everyone knew that the Ironbord had nothing to trade with, but apparently they were exchanging knowledge about the building of ships, if the rumors were right.

What worried him the most was that Yara had refused to give copies of her prints to him with all the money he offered from _Highgarden,_ which forced them to pay the overpriced prints of another Lord for slower ships that they didn't want but needed. And instead of all the money she didn't take from him she was accepting less money and part of the payment in legume, wheat, cereals and barrels of Dornish wine from Martell.

Now Dorne was building ships, the Iron Islands were creating a massive storage of food and helping the dornish to build sending them ironmen and wood from their island _and_ Gendry Baratheon had left to Essos according to Davos Seaworth. The Dothraki were planting legume as well as if they never were nomads, surely by Greyjoy's recommendation since she was one of the few people allowed inside the castle.

To a half drunk Tyrion it seemed as cooperation to survive after the loss that two wars caused in Westeros. To him it seemed as an internal economy within the Six Kingdoms was blooming, at this rate they could grow self sufficient in a few years time. Maybe they would call themselves independent Kingdoms like Sansa Stark had done. If she could, why couldn't them. And if they were getting themselves ready for it, he needed to put _The Reach_ in the best place he could before anything bad started.

So his first decision was to cut back on the loans to the Crown, give only the money the asked for and no one penny more. His second decision was putting taverns and brothels in every major city of Westeros to create more money for _The Reach_ , people would think he was only thinking about pleasure so no one would suspect him. It had worked for Petyr Baelish, so it would work for him. Also, he was going to start doing the same as Yara Greyjoy and Quentyn Martell. That would mean that he had to have a feast to talk to the lords about his new plans.

He needed to keep an eye on the Tarlys, after all Samwell was friends with the Starks and would go straight to them if he saw something out of place. The only good thing on his side was that the man was completely oblivious to the workings of politics, the bad thing was that his wife seemed a little smarter than she lead on. He certainly had a lot to prepare for and not enough time to do everything. As he was sitting there thinking about his moves as if preparing for a fight, a knock on the tavern's door got him out of his reverie. He opened the door to see a Red Priestess standing there.

* * *

**_Volantis_ ** _(three months later)_

Gendry arrived to the temple of R'hllor without any idea of what to do. He regretted not asking the Priest his name, now he had to wait and see the 'night lights' or start asking around. First, thought he needed a job, so he went to the market to ask for one. The blacksmith at the place told him that he didn't forge many weapons but that he knew who would be in need of someone with his abilities. The man took him through a few side streets back to the temple and asked for the High Priestess.

Kinvara received him with a smile, she told him he had the job and that the temple could pay him and house him, since their thousand soldiers were in need of sharp weapons at all times. He was grateful for payment but refused the housing, his encounter with Melisandre had not been the most pleasant and he had no intention of repeating it. He asked where he could rent a room and the Red woman looked thoughtful for a second.

"There might be a place. I can take you there now". The evening light was about to fade away, so he wanted to get there before nightfall.

The light had already left the sky as they crossed the town. Gendry expected her to stop at any place but she never did and as they left the village behind he grew a little wary. _'I've come all this way for them to kill me'_ , he thought. He wanted to run until he saw it, the moving lights, more like dancing, and instead of lights it reminded him of dragonfire.

He got off the horse and walked to the lights where he could see the shape of people illuminated by the fire. Kinvara walked beside him and it caused for the dancing lights to stop as Drogon grew completely still.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A couple of things:
> 
> ♛ I don't see Gendry as the kind of guy to sit in a castle chilling after growing up a commoner. Also, he was a really good guy who ended up alone and heartbroken and I refuse to accept that as canon.  
> ♝ I remember Tyrion offered something in The Reach to the Unsullied, but I'm placing the Dothraki in The Riverlands because they would be closer to Yara without being in Lannister land or extremely far away.  
> ♖ Bronn seems to me like a weird person to put in a position of power, especially in The Reach. But at least he is 'trying'.


	7. VII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back in Volantis, Jorah struggles and Daenerys gets a little more hope.

**_Volantis_ ** _ (after Daario leaves) _

Jorah was trying to see what to do with the ten horses that Daario left them. They could keep them, but they didn't need the entire lot. Also, they could give them to Drogon to eat, eat them themselves or sell them. 

When he offered the chance to eat them at Daenerys, she wrinkled her nose, "I've eaten enough horse with the Khalasar to last me a lifetime".

He decided to sell six of them, so he went to the market to see what he could do. In the end a few farmers agreed to exchange them for livestock. So he came back with twelve sheep, a puppy dog herder and six chickens. 

Daenerys snorted when she saw him. "What are we going to do with so many sheeps?"

"I don't know yet", he scratched his head.

"Well, Drogon will be thankful if you give him one once in a while".

Jorah said drily to himself, “I am not giving Drogon any sheep”.

* * *

  
  


He had to put all the animals inside the small barn on the side of the house because the dragon had scared them as he landed to inspect the new acquisitions. Except for the puppy, he kept than one with him under the excuse that he was too little to be left alone.

"What should we name him?" He asked as the dog sniffed around the house.

Daenerys looked at the little thing thoughtfully, "Bear".

Jorah huffed, "or maybe we can just call him Daario".

She grinned at him, "Dragon".

"Are you jesting?"

"No, I think that  _ Valyrian _ will be good."

"That is better,  _ Valyrian _ it is."

"I'll still call him Bear, Jorah."

* * *

Jorah was trying to get Daenerys to give Drogon a warning about eating the sheep without permission. The dragon barely looked at them since he was resting in front of the barn. The Targaryen said that he would not listen and that he could eat whatever he wanted. He argued that they needed the sheep to reproduce before feeding them to Drogon.

"Tell him not to eat them", he said as he stood in front of the dragon's snout.

Daenerys was standing a little away, "He will not listen,you know it".

“Try the same”, Jorah implored.

It had been an ongoing battle, she thought it would not work and he thought that it was necessary. If his High Valyrian was any good he would do it himself, but it was most likely that he said something wrong and would not get the result he desired. She should have taught them commands in Dothraki.

"Daenerys, please, just tell him." He turned to see her widened eyes staring at him. Jorah almost ran towards her, "what's wrong?"

She took his hand and placed it on the side of her stomach, there was a happy glint in her eyes. "Can you feel it?"

He did, it was soft, but there. The baby was kicking. He gave her a smile, "Aye, I can feel it".

Jorah wiped the tears from her eyes and kissed her forehead. This tears were happy ones, she never had cried in happiness. Drogon chose that moment to arise and flap away into the skies. Her Knight thought that at least he hadn't had to worry about the animals getting eaten that day by the dragon.

The next day Jorah took her to the temple, Kinvara had told her to go there the moment she felt any development when she visited. Since Daenerys was still reluctant to believe the baby was alright, the Red woman gave her time to accept that a new life was forming inside her instead of a stillborn child.

The Maester was happy to check her for any health problems she might have. After rigorous questions and feeling her belly, the man assured her that everything was going right. At least for now, the only way to know if the baby was healthy was waiting for the day of birth. They came back to the house with a glimmer of hope. She was more embracing towards the idea of having a child and he was thrilled for her.

* * *

They were sitting outside, the heat of the Essosi weather became unbearable inside the house at noon. Their lighter clothes clung to them even as they didn't move. It was supposed to be Spring, yet the heat could rival any Summer day. He didn't remember Volantis being this hot before.

"Have you thought about names?" Jorah asked her giving her a side glance.

"A few, yes. Bear is the on the top of my list."

He laughed, "you can't just name everything  _ Bear _ ".

She smiled, "Then Jaehaerys or Maekor if it's a boy. Visenya if it's a girl."

He hummed, "those are really good names".

* * *

She was around her seven or eight month of pregnancy, she wobbled from room to room with a hand on her back. He had made himself the task of helping her at all times, so Jorah became a shadow that would not leave her alone. It would be endearing if it wasn't because it made her feel so useless. He had to do everything alone on the home.

"I swear this one is worse than Rhaego." Daenerys said as she sat down.

Jorah sat next to her worried, "Are you in much pain? Do you need anything?"

"No, I'm fine. It's just uncomfortable, and the baby kicks all night. I've been speaking to it to see if it calms down."

"Does it work?"

"No." She bemoaned.

* * *

They had gone to bed early, Jorah was lying in bed waiting for sleep to claim him when she called. His bedroom was right in front of hers, he only had to cross the hall. He knocked before entering.

"Is there something wrong?"

"I can't sleep, the baby it's kicking too hard." She was clutching her belly with a grimace of pain on her face.

"How long have you been skipping sleep?" Jorah could almost tell the precise time because she had been falling asleep sitting on the table or on the cliff when they went to see Drogon soar the skies.

"Four days, maybe more. I don't know what to do anymore, I've done everything the Maester from the temple said."

He sat next to her, "I don't know what to do."

"Try talking, the Master said it could help."

So he did, he lowered himself next to her bump and talked about naming the sheep and the chickens. Not that they needed names, but it was something to keep their minds occupied when there was nothing to do. It took a few moments for the kicking to stop.

Daenerys laughed, "It worked".

Jorah smiled, "I think this one is going to be a lot like Drogon."

"I hope not, he's always had a mind of it's own."

Whenever he stopped talking the baby started moving around. Jorah told her to lie down as he sat on the chair next to her and talked away. In took another hour for the baby to completely calm down, and after covering a sleeping Daenerys with a blankets he slipped out the hall.

* * *

Jorah worked on a fence for the sheep not to jump off the cliff by mistake as Daenerys watched from her seat. It was filled with furs to keep her comfortable.  _ Valyrian _ trotted around him playing with the back of his pants.

_ "Vo, nakho rek, Valyrian" _ , he warned the dog.

(No, stop that, Valyrian.)

His warnings did nothing for the little shepherd, so with a huff he went back to his task. The play became annoying when the dog started biting the pieces of wood he had for the fence and stealing them away.

"Daenerys, can you call this wretched dog to your side?" He asked as he cleaned the sweat from his forehead with a rag.

_ "Gryves, māzigon kesīr!"  _ She called.

(Bear, come here!)

_ Valyrian  _ perked up and ran towards her with his ears flapping. He sat next to her seat playing with the apple she gave him to eat.

Jorah grumped from his place under the scalding sun, "I know what that meant".

Daenerys feigned complete innocence, "I just called him to come by my side".

Putting the fence would have taken only half a day if it wasn't for Drogon who decided to have a nap exactly on that spot, even if he had an entire land to lie around him. Jorah turned his blue eyes in disbelief to a guffawing Daenerys.

"Tell him to move", he implored.

_ "Gaomagon ziry aōla" _ , she smiled, "in High Valyrian".

(Do it yourself.)

"You know my speaking Valyrian is limited and he won't listen to me".

"It's a good time to improve both things then." She answered back with mirth in her voice. He looked into the shining eyes of the huge dragon and talked the best he could motioning with his arms.

_ "Drōgon, dīnagon, qrīdrughāks". _

(Drogon, move, go away.)

The dragon answered turning his head to the side and closing its eyes. Now the Targaryen was almost howling in laughter. He went back under the shade of the house to sit on a chair and had to wait till the next day to finish his task.


	8. VIII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A reunion, Grey Worm being a bit paranoid and an advice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one I wrote a while ago. It's a little short, but I can get another soon to compensate.

**_Island of Naath_ ** _ (a few months ago) _

When the R'hllor worshipper came to look for Grey Worm he didn't believe anything it said. The only incentive he had was that the Priest had in his possession the fur coat of his Queen. And that was not even a good omen either because it was covered completely in blood. So he sent a few Unsullied to Volantis, he was reticent to even have six less men but if Daenerys was alive, then he would do what it took to keep her safe. Maybe she would agree to move to Naath with them.

He stood on the exact same point of the shore they left for days taking guard with his men. Tales of Drogon living in Volantis had reached him after they left Westeros but he didn't want to get his hopes up. He felt guilty for failing her so miserably, Jorah Mormont would not have done the same mistake. He had seen the hesitation in Jon Snow and didn't do anything. He should have killed the Imp the moment he renounced to be the Hand of the Queen. He had the traitor in his hands and didn't kill him. He had lost his opportunity to have revenge.

  
  


The ship came back a month and a half later. The storms in open sea were worse than in land and the captain had to do wonders to come out of one alive but not completely unscathed. One of the sails had fallen so the winds could only take him at two thirds at its usual speed. His Second in command could not wait for the vessel to reach the proper position on the port before jumping to the water and swimming to him.

_ "Torgo Nudho. Issa isse volantis, se dāria iksis konīr." _

(Grey Worm. She is in Volantis, the Queen is there.)

"It cannot be", he murmured.

"She's alive and Jorah Mormont is with her." His soldier replied.

He gave him an incredulous look.  _ "Iōrah, se andal, iksis morghe." _

(Jorah, the Andal, is dead.)

_ "Skori ao ūndegon se mēre bona māstan lēda īlva, kesā shifang". _

(When you see the one that came with us, you will understand.)

He followed his frantic Second in command to the ship. Between the sailors and merchants on board a black curly mop of hair stood out. Grey Worm forced himself to remain stoic until the vision of Missandei grew closer to him and talked, after that, his composure broke down completely.

* * *

They spent a week together before travelling to Volantis, the rains in the island had gotten worse and no captain was brave to leave after the one that brought the Unsullied came back with almost half the ship destroyed. Missandei asked everything that Daenerys refused to say and Grey Worm gave her all the information she needed.

She was shocked to hear that Jon Snow had been the one to betray her along with his sister, Varys and Tyrion. In the end, after everything she lost they repaid her with a knife to the heart. He also told her that Varys was killed by dragon fire under the suspicion of attempted poisoning and trying to overthrow his own Queen.

By the time they could leave the island most of his men wanted to go with him. He had to remind them that Daenerys was living in a small village and taking an entire army to it was not smart since they couldn't fit them all inside the house. He promised to try to make the Queen come with them to Naath, where they could protect her from her enemies. And if he couldn't, they would find a way for her to at least visit them.

In the end he took five men with him, and left his Second in command in charge. The man was still ecstatic about seeing her and told everyone that Drogon was with her.

"She could fly here", one of them said.

"We will try everything we can", Missandei promised before boarding the ship.

It took them another month and a half to reach Volantis. The men were humming in excitement by the time they saw Drogon flying around the ocean looking for prey.

* * *

**_Volantis_ ** _ (present time) _

The sight that greeted them was something Grey Worm would never forget, Daenerys happily taunting Jorah as he struggled with Drogon putting himself in his way, not allowing him to work on the plot of land he was trying to create furrows into, and disarming the ones he already created by sitting on them.

Jorah dropped his tools and prayed to the gods for patience. "I should have drowned you when you were small."

As Jorah turned and saw Missandei standing there, Drogon pushed his back with his snout almost tripping him into the ground. Daenerys was too concentrated on smiling to notice the visitors.

_ "Issa mērī iā zaldrīzes, Iōrah" _ , she taunted.

(It is only a dragon, Jorah.)

He gave her a skeptical look while Missandei repressed a laugh behind her hand. Daenerys heard her little giggle and turned to see her and Grey Worm standing there.

_ "Ñuha dāria", _ the Unsullied said which such reverence that it didn't bother her at all.

(My Queen.)

The Targaryen had missed him greatly, he was the only one left for so long that just the thought of him not answering her call had terrified her when she didn't have Jorah and Missandei with her yet. She got up her chair with a groan, the baby was going to come any day now, to greet them. All the newcomers were surprised to see her so heavily pregnant.

"I am sorry, I failed you, I will never do it again", Torgo Nudho cried just because he was able to see her alive after months without his Queen.

"You never failed me, I failed myself", she answered giving him no place to argue back.

* * *

The Unsullied helped Jorah with the tasks around the house, he was grateful to have a little respite after months of trying tasks that could not be achieved by a lonely man against a playful dragon. And Daenerys egging him on didn't help either, thought he could stand it knowing that Drogon's moods were influenced by her own ones.

The group put the fence for the sheep on the back of the house where the animals could roam around during the day without jumping to their deaths every time Drogon flew by. They also fixed rooms on the upper floors that were a little dilapidated from erosion and dirty from constant exposure to the rain with the windows opened that they could not use before and the barn now had enough space for the horses, sheeps and chickens.

Daenerys walked around the first floor finding a small library for her books of Old Valyria, Jorah was right behind her with the pile in his arms. He put them on the desk in the middle of the room before leaving to see the rest they fixed. There were too many rooms on the house for just one person, but given the fact that it had belonged to a Noble Lord before, it made sense that it was bigger than what they thought.

Grey Worm suggested that she move to one of the rooms in the first floor instead of using the one she had now after the baby was born. It gave them a small amount of upper hand against enemies, if only for a few seconds, but enough for her and the baby to run to a balcony and climb on Drogon from there. After that conversation she was uneasy for a few days. Luckily, Jorah sensed her fear right away and would go to her bedroom every night to 'speak with the baby' until she fell asleep.

On a particularly tiring day Jorah fell asleep sitting in the chair next to her bed with one arm supporting his head and the other on her baby bump. Daenerys woke up to see him sleeping in such an awkward position that she tugged his hand to stir him up and he staggered out of the room apologising. In the morning no one could rouse him so they left him alone.

Missandei used that moment where Jorah was not following Daenerys like a ghost to talk to her. The silver haired girl was dreading the conversation before it started, all she could think off was her friends disappointment at her actions on King's Landing or for letting Cersei murder her. Instead, the girl from Naath talked about something else.

"Have you told him?" The black haired girl asked as they sat on the wooden chairs that the Unsullied put near the cliff.

Daenerys glanced at her friend, "tell him what?"

Missandei's black eyes settled on hers, "that you love him. It was your biggest regret when he died."

The former Queen stared into the ocean as Drogon flew low between the fishermen's boats. The men would throw fishes on a pile for the black dragon on his preferred rock, as if afraid that not feeding him would cause for Drogon to attack them at sea.

"I have not found the courage to say it", she admitted.

"Could I give you a word of advice?" Missandei put a hand on hers.

"Always", the Targaryen smiled at her friend.

"Do not wait until it's so late he can't hear it anymore", a heartbeat later she added, "he deserved to know".

“I won’t.”

Missandei raised her eyebrow.

“I swear.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thank all of you for the support and the comments. It's hard to write, like... sometimes I just sit around waiting for something to come to me and I get nothing, then other times I get moments of complete illumination and suddenly I have 20 chapters in. Instead of studying for college. hehe


	9. IX

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grey Worm makes a discovery and another Targaryen is born.

A huge storm started during the day provoking Jorah, Grey Worm and the Unsullied to run outside and take the sheep and horses into the barn. There was too much mud to walk around freely and the frightened animals were complicating herding them back inside. _Valyrian_ run around barking the sheep's that had gone astray and the Andal was thankful to let the farmers train the dog, who was not a little puppy anymore.

They walked to the front door after closing the barn to find Missandei blocking the way, "You're too dirty to enter through here, go around the back door and use the bathtubs in the back rooms to clean yourselves."

Jorah saw his legs covered up to the knee in mud, dirty arms and drenched clothes. He resignedly turned around and went to the back as Grey Worm complained about it behind him.

_"Kostan rāenābagon tolī nykēla, iksan daor beqes."_

(I can wash after myself, I am not pig.)

He smiled at the soldier's remark, having Grey Worm around was as if he went back to those years travelling the continent. Except now the Unsullied was a bit more surlier than he remembered and extremely distrustful of strangers. The only people he didn't have anything against were the ones at the Red Temple because they brought back the three of them.

Missandei had been nice enough to leave their clothes in the rooms to change into. After diligently scrubbing the filth away, he dressed and went to the kitchen. He sat in the chair next to Daenerys and she absently talked with her friends as she gave him a cup of hot tea with a few slices of toasted bread. Missandei noted their movements as they talked with different people on the table. One handed the butter and the other the jam, Jorah gave her the pitcher of hot tea and she poured them both more tea as he took the milk from the fire and put a little on her cup.

Grey Worm was attentively seeing the same thing and catched Missandei's eyes across the table, she cracked a smile before continuing her conversation with the Targaryen. The rest of the Unsullied had noticed too but refrained from paying to much attention since it was not uncommon for them to see their Queen and Jorah Mormont be so close.

* * *

Torgo Nudho brought up the subject when he was in their room alone with Missandei. She knew that he was curious because he had never really thought much about their relationship before, so she was expecting the questions.

_"Ēza se dāria va moriot issare hae bisa lēda Iōrah se andal?"_ He asked as they changed for bed.

(Has the Queen always been like this with Jorah the Andal?) 

Missandei stopped to think for a while. _"Daor, daor skori īlon rhēdan zirȳ. Gō bona nyke ȳdra daor gīmigon."_

(No, not when we met them. Before that I don't know.)

Grey Worm now was more confused.

“I think they were closer, before.” The Naathi replied truthfully.

He waited for her to say more.

“Daenerys has never told me what changed between them.”

“Did he hurt her?” Torgo Nudho grew serious.

“No, she wouldn’t trust him so much if he had been so improper.”

His curiosity was not entirely sated but he was too tired to talk and Missandei of Naath was there with him, so his questions became a secondary thought on his mind. 

* * *

Jorah knocked on the door as he did every night. Her voice gave him permission to enter. He found her sitting on the end of the bed with a hand on her back and furrowed eyebrows in pain.

He kneeled next to her, "What's wrong?"

"My back hurts a lot".

"What can I do?"

"There's an ointment the Maester gave me on the drawer over there".

He found the little jar and put it in her hand, Daenerys put a small amount on her fingers and tried to rub the exposed skin that the dress didn't cover.

"Allow me", he offered after seeing that she could not reach the area. Without hesitation she handed the jar to him. Delicately he kneaded the skin of her lower back. Not one of them talked until he finished. Afterwards he left the little jar back in the drawer and helped her to get in bed.

"Is there something you need?" He whispered to her as he put out the candles.

"No", she slurred. Jorah left her one candle on and slipped out the door. The storm was still raging outside when he got into bed, the sound of the heavy rain and thunders lulled him to sleep.

  


A shout woke him up, in the darkness of the night he staggered out of bed and made his way to her bedroom in a hurry. Standing near the desk with her back towards the doorway was Daenerys. He could clearly see that her water broke because of the wetness of her red dress and the pool of water beneath her feet. She was gripping the wood of the desk so tightly her hands were shaking. Jorah stood beside her as Missandei and Grey Worm went into the room.

"I think it’s time", she breathed out.

"I'll go find the Maester", he said to the others.

Her hand clutched his forearm in a painful grip, "Don't you dare leave me alone again, Jorah Mormont".

He was conflicted for half a second, but Grey Worm was already barking commands to his men, so the decision was out of his hands. Two Unsullied ran straight to the barn under the rain to get the fastest horses they had and galloped away to the temple were the Maester was, under the instructions of coming back with the man at once.

In the meantime the rest of them prepared for the birth. Missandei and Grey Worm brought all the things they had readied with time from the wooden wardrobe to the bed. The Unsullied that were left made a fire in the kitchen to boil water and went to search for any medicine they had bought recently. Jorah talked to Daenerys to reassure her that everything would be alright as the pains became more unbearable.

Missandei was looking for the furs they left in every chair and stopped mid walk to see Drogon flying around the edge of the cliff spitting flames of fire under the rain. He illuminated the entire inside of the house with just passing by and allowed them to see clearly outside. 

As the hours went by Daenerys started to have a stronger grip on Jorah's arms, her fingernails could have broken the skin If it wasn't for his shirt. She whimpered in pain and The Andal didn't know what else to do, so Missandei took his place in comforting her as he paced back and forth worriedly.

The Maester arrived with three women from the temple to help him. Two of them held Daenerys upright as another assisted the man. It took a few hours to get the wailing child out. Afterwards the slaves were in charge of cleaning the bed, the baby and helping the mother as well.

The newest Targaryen was born on one of the most dangerous rain seasons that the people of Volantis could ever remember. The Maester assured Daenerys the newborn was completely healthy and didn't have any deformities before putting it in her arms. Tiny bluish eyes fluttered open as she spoke to it, searching were the voice came from. She cried in joy as Drogon screeched flying around the house in circles under the lightning storm.

During the birth, her friends waited in the hall. Jorah was sitting in a bench, anxiously tapping his foot on the leg of it. Missandei kept her hands folded on her lap, sharing worried glances with the Andal everytime they heard Daenerys cry. Grey Worm seemed to be the calmer of the three, standing with his arms behind his back as if waiting for commands. The others couldn’t see him picking his cuticles with his nails.

* * *

Finally, at dawn the Maester opened the door to let them in. The three entered to see Daenerys holding the little babe in arms. She was tired, a dazed look in her eyes as the newborn wrapped his small hand around her index finger. Missandei stood by her side to get a better look. Jorah was stupefied, the fear of her having another lizard child left completely, leaving him relieved for good. He saw Grey Worm standing next to the Naathi, smiling for the first time since he was in Volantis.

“It’s a boy.” Daenerys whispered.

“What will you name him?” Missandei asked her.

“Jaehaerys.” She smiled brightly to her friend. “Would you like to hold him?”

“Could I?” The black haired girl asked.

“Of course.” Daenerys handed her the little child wrapped in a white cloth.

Missandei had an excited smile on her face as she watched the babe closely. She offered the bundle to Grey Worm, he accepted it but grew absolutely still, as if even breathing would hurt the little dragon. Jorah was the last one to take him, his eyes looking for a scale hidden somewhere. When he didn’t find anything wrong, he glanced back at Daenerys.

“He’s perfect, _Khaleesi_.” He said in wonderment.

“He is.” She laughed elated, knowing exactly what he meant, since she had been searching for the same thing just moments ago.


	10. X

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> News from Westeros arrive.

When the weather calmed down Jorah went to the market with two Unsullied to bring back the things he had ordered with Daario. He went under the excuse to get more food although they had plenty around. Daenerys was too tired to pay attention to the lie and the others were too excited to give a second thought to his statement.

_ Valyrian  _ trotted next to his horse as he made his way into the town, the dog had not been allowed to leave the house for three whole days because of the storm and in his anxiety had destroyed two furs and gnawed the feet of two chairs. So, Jorah took him with him so the shepherd could stretch his legs.

"May I come in?" He said from the doorway.

Daenerys looked up at him from the rocking chair Grey Worm had brought from another room and nodded.

He got in with two rucksacks, behind him two Unsullied carefully brought the cradle in. The Targaryen was at a loss for words, she went to the cradle raking her fingers on the three dragons in wonder.

“I thought I told you not to get one?” She murmured as she moved around it, inspecting every side of the dark wooden cradle.

Jorah grimaced, he couldn’t tell if she sounded displeased or not by her tone, “I might have been influenced by Naharis when I went to but it. Are you angry?”

“No, I’m not.” She replied too calmly for his liking.

Daenerys ended her inspection and lifted her purple eyes to look him in the eyes.

"It's beautiful, and there's a bear in it", she smiled at him.

"The bear was Daario's doing", he halfheartedly scoffed.

"That's what you were doing that day", she remembered.

"Aye, we got this for you and the babe", he pointed to the rucksacks on the bed. She handed him the tiny sleeping bundle and dug into them.

Jorah sat on the chair, taking a little fisted hand in his.

After Daenerys saw every item in the bags, she smiled at him, "thank you, Jorah".

"It was nothing, really", he said and left.

* * *

Jaehaerys had been crying all night, Daenerys didn't know what else to do and Missandei had done everything she could as well. Jorah made his way to her bedroom. Seeing her distress he offered to take the baby for a little while.

"I don't know what's wrong with him, he doesn't want to eat, he has not soiled himself, he doesn't seem sick…" she racked her fingers through her hair in stress and fear.

Jorah pried the baby out of her arms gently, "it could be nothing, let's wait until morning. Why don't you take a bath and I take care of him in the meantime".

Daenerys agreed and he left with the crying child to the hall closing the door behind him. He didn't know a thing about children, so he walked outside where a sleeping Drogon had curled in front of the door.  _ Valyrian _ saw him from his spot next to the dragon and moved his tail in happiness.

Jorah started talking to Jaehaerys like he used to do before, this time he recounted tales from Bear Island and the people that lived there. Despite the crying the child was wide eyed looking for the source of the voice. Gradually the wails became soft hiccups and a little yawn announced the infant was falling asleep. He kissed the top of his head and walked back inside.

Daenerys was sitting in bed untangling her damp hair, when he entered. She was relieved that the child had finally settled. Jorah put the little thing in the cradle, careful not to rouse him.

"Goodnight", he murmured as he closed the door.

* * *

A month later Grey Worm insisted that they moved to the first floor. Daenerys was reluctant to do it, but Jorah reminded her that being cautious was better than regretting not doing it. So they moved to the upper floor where the balconies surrounded the house.

"Why does this bedroom have doors that lead to the ones is next to it?" She asked. It didn't look as if they were used for anything else but sleeping.

"I don't know", Jorah answered as he inspected the three rooms. "What do you want to do with this?"

"I'll take the one on the right, it overlooks the cliff, I can see Drogon from there. Maybe the middle one can be for Jaehaerys when the time comes and the other one, I don't know."

"Alright, we'll start bringing your things here".

In the end, Daenerys, Jorah, Missandei and Grey Worm moved upstairs. Jorah took the room right in front of hers, leaving his pile of folded clothes on the lonely chain beside the bed. The couple took one near the set of stairs, where Grey Worm could keep an eye on whoever went up and down.

The other Unsullied insisted to stay on the ground floor in case attackers came and their Lord Commander acquiesced.  _ Bringing more soldier would be a good idea _ , Torgo Nudho thought.

* * *

It was on one extremely hot day under the Essosi sun that they had news about the Dothraki, the Priests that had been travelling around Westeros came back with letters for her. They gathered in the balcony to read them, not only her Dothraki had claimed the castle on the Riverlands waiting for her, Yara Greyjoy and the Prince of Dorne wrote back.

"What does it say?" Daenerys asked Jorah.

He gave her a gloom look, "Yara says that something is happening in Westeros, that she can feel a restlessness and that the Priestess convinced her and the Dothraki to start preparing for it. She's been exchanging knowledge about ships with Quentyn in exchange for food."

"What does it mean?" Missandei asked.

"I don't know, the Night King has already been defeated. What could be worse than that?" Jorah replied. No one answered.

"And the others?" Daenerys pointed to the two letters on the table.

"Quentyn Martell offers his full support to the  _ rightful Queen of Westeros _ who fought to get the throne with Fire and Blood instead of  _ treason _ and strange magic." He snorted a laughter, at least the man had a sense of humour.

Grey Worm read the rest of the letter, "he's building ships with Yara. Says that for every four he builds, one is her's."

"So a fleet, they are building an entire fleet", Daenerys searched their eyes for confirmation. Both of them nodded.

"I don't understand. Why are they doing this? I won't put a foot back in Westeros never again if I can avoid it." She looked over at Jaehaerys sleeping in his cradle on her room, she had already lost two of her children there.

"I think this one explains why", Jorah handed her the last letter.

"Who is Ser Bronn of the Blackwater?" Daenerys furrowed her brows, she had never heard of him.

"The new Master of Coin and Lord Paramount of The Reach", Jorah said.

"What does he say?" Missandei inquired.

"He says he doesn't trust a King that has the power to know how many times he takes a shit a day", the Targaryen knitted her eyebrows.

"Well, that could deter anyone from giving it's support to a King", Jorah added in jest.

"He also says that the King spends all his time white eyed looking for something, but no one knows what. And that the Council it's ruling for him. Do you think he's looking for us?" Daenerys asked in fear.

"The High Priestess gave her word that he cannot see anything in Volantis, as long as we stay here, he won't be able to find us". Jorah reminded her.

* * *

Daenerys was restless for days, she didn't have to say it, Drogon acted for her. He started flying up and down the cliff as if searching for something, roaring once in a while and sleeping right below the glass doors of her room that lead to the balcony. To make her feel safer Jorah put a cot in her bedroom near the doors and slept on it as two Unsullied guarded her main door at night.

Grey Worm sent a letter with one ship captain from Naath to his men asking for a group of ten to come guard their Queen. Luckily it would take a little over a fortnight instead of the three months that took his group to arrive now that the storms were calmer. Kinvara had visited and offered people to help them with the tasks around the house since they were too busy keeping guard and started to neglect the animals a little.

Five Red worshippers moved into the ground floor near the kitchen, Daenerys was reluctant to let them in since she thought they were slaves, but the Red woman assured her they were willing people that went to the temple to feel closer to R'hllor instead of slaves. Besides they were happy to help the people that the Lord of Light brought back from the dead.

"They must think we are blessed", Jorah huffed as he watched them work.

"Maybe we are", Daenerys said as she held her son to her chest.

"Even the dog listens to them", he turned to see her.

"So that is what is bothering you", she laughed.

"It's my dog, I bought him", he grouchily replied.

"You can use your free time to talk to us and practice your High Valyrian, Jaehaerys will learn and use it when he grows up."

"I can answer him the Common Tongue and in Dothraki".

"He will come to you for things he won't say to me or the others, he might want to say them in Valyrian."

She tried to hide her sadness with a half smile that turned into a grimace. A pang hit him when Daenerys left unsaid that Jon Snow would never do that for their son. So Jorah accepted because he knew that the man supposed to help him was not going to be there when Jaehaerys needed him.

He left not without one last complaint, "I don't see how talking will improve my High Valyrian, it’s never been good before, it won’t change now".

* * *

Jorah spent time talking to himself, the words seemed right in his mind but he knew that he wasn’t saying them correctly. In the end, Missandei took pity of him and taught him simple sentences. Jorah had never needed full speaking High Valyrian when he learned in his years in Essos, since it was not entirely necessary, just understanding the language got him everywhere he wanted to go. To say that now he was struggling was an understatement.

Daenerys came up with the plan of speaking only in High Valyrian in the house, it forced him to ask for things in it since even the religious people living in their house ignored him. One night he was trying to ask for the pitcher of water. He asked in every way he thought High Valyrian sounded, until the little repressed snicker from Missandei told him he was not achieving the right pronunciation.

He huffed and sat back down on the chair, "This is useless".

“It’s easier than you think”, Daenerys said.

Jorah raised his eyebrows in distrust.

_ "Drōgon, lilagon" _ , Daenerys commanded.

(Drogon, dance.)

The dragon stood in his back legs and opened his black wings before free falling off the cliff. He soared back up dancing in circles above them spitting short flames of fire illuminating the sky.

_ " _ ! don't need High Valyrian.  _ Eman ñuha jaos" _ , Jorah scoffed in a broken High Valyrian as he tickled  _ Valyrian's _ ear.

(I have my dog.)

_ "Gryves, māzigon ondoso ñuha paktot" _ , Daenerys called, and the dog got up to go to her side.

(Bear, come by my side).

Jorah looked with disbelief as the animal left despite him being the one who fed the damned dog everyday.

_ "Nāpāstre" _ , he complained.

(Traitor.)

Missandei couldn't hold back the laughter. They never stopped moving and fighting war after war since they joined Daenerys. Obviously, the three of them would do everything again for her. Yet it was nice to be in a calm place after years of constant action. Their merriment lasted until Drogon grew completely still watching the incomers intently.

The torches on the pathway to the house was occupied with the High Priestess and a man who walked behind her only a few steps. Jorah turned around to see what the others were staring. The light illuminated his face, causing a gasp from the visitor.

"Ser Jorah Mormont", said Gendry Baratheon in awe as his eyes went to every face that greeted him, and in that moment their little bubble shattered because Westeros had found them sooner than they expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have read the comments on the previous chapter and I'm sorry, guys, Jaehaerys is still Jon's son. I wrote that considering that baby's eyes change colour with time.


	11. XI

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gendry has questions, Daario and Grey Worm are their mistrustful and protective selves and Jorah tries to keep everyone calm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I edited this chapter a few days ago, so... there still might be mistakes here and there. If you find it, tell me. I would actually appreciate it. Btw, thank you for reading and the comments.

"How is this possible?" Gendry asked.

The Priestess was the only one who answered, "the Lord of Light has given them another chance in life, not many get this gift from him."

The Red woman moved past the torches towards Daenerys and started a hushed conversation in High Valyrian with her. They didn't need to whisper, thought, since the Baratheon heir couldn't understand anything they said. In the meantime Jorah approached to talk with him.

Gendry sputtered, "I saw your body burn in that funeral pyre. How are you here?"

Jorah grimaced, "I still don't understand it myself".

"At least they do more than just sacrifice people".

The Andal smiled patting his shoulder, he remembered Gendry's complaints to Thoros and Beric when they travelled beyond the Wall. "What are you planning to do in Volantis?"

"I don't know, I came on an impulse, really. But I have work as a blacksmith at the temple." He looked at Daenerys talking with Grey Worm on a side, both of them were scowling. "She's not going to let me go back to Westeros, isn't she?"

Jorah glanced at the pair hearing only bits of their conversation, "She won't force you to".

“She won’t want me to leave back home either.”

“No.”

The blacksmith was a only little glum about it since he had left Storm's End with the plan of never coming back. Arya would really have to want to see him if she came back from her travelling.

* * *

Gendry was sitting at the breakfast table dumbfounded, he couldn't help to stare at them by moments. Daenerys was on edge and couldn't stand it anymore. She was about to say something when Jorah interrupted her to save the poor young man the scalding.

"How did you find us?"

It took a second for the last Baratheon to process that the question was directed to him, he coughed "a Red Priest sent me here".

"What did he tell you to convince you to abandon your castle?" Grey Worm asked in suspicion.

Jorah was confused now and Missandei whispered that Daenerys had legitimized him in the feast after the Battle in Winterfell. 'Oh', he said back, he was already dead by that time.

"He said that my last living family lived in Volantis and that I would find them in the house that had dancing lights at night." He took out the family tree from his coat pocket, "see, here it says that there was a Targaryen in my family, so I know that it meant my last living relative is Daenerys… and that babe".

They stared at each other. Obviously the Red Priests had started some sort of a campaign in favour of their Queen. The purpose escaped them, though.

"But why leave everything behind? As you can see this isn't as big as an entire castle in the Stormlands". Daenerys asked.

Gendry huffed, "the Lords treated me different, they liked me but I'm always going to be the son of a whore to them and it made me feel as if I was stealing something from them that they wanted more than me".

For Daenerys that confession sealed Gendry's stay at their home, "I know what that feels like", she murmured.

* * *

They settled in a routine after a few days. Since the blacksmith worked from morning to the middle of the afternoon it was easier for the group. Grey Worm wanted to follow him at all times to see if he was informing anyone about their whereabouts, Jorah reminded everyone that there was a reason a Priest had gone to look for him of all the people in Westeros. Still, Daenerys felt a little insecure so in the end one of the Unsullied started to go to work with Gendry 'to help'. If it bothered him, he didn't say.

It did bother Gendry that they didn't trust him but the moment he entered the forgery to find piles and piles of broken swords, chipped armour and curved spears he was actually grateful for the poor soldier that came with him. It took them days just to classify was was salvageable and what needed to be melted to be forged again. By the time they started to work on the pile of swords the soldiers of the Red temple were bringing more broken equipment to them.

The rest started to keep an eye on the market and the port to see if some Westerosi vessel brought more people or not. They knew that there were not many ships around and that the continent was in the process of building new ones so merchant Essosi ships were what they looked for. After exhaustive search, Jorah and Grey Worm were satisfied that Gendry was the only visitor they had for now.

* * *

Daario came back by ship two months after Jaehaerys was born. He halted at the sight of the new member of the house, lifting an eyebrow in question to Daenerys. She waved his concerns for later and brought him to her bedroom. He couldn't hold his excited smile at the little Targaryen bundle she placed in his arms.

The babe’s eyes fluttered open at the change, yet he remained silent. Naharis brought him closer to his chest, holding the head in his open hand. The snug hold made the infant close it’s eyes again. Daario waited to make sure that it was asleep before talking.

"He is so tiny, I could put him in my satchel", he joked in a whisper.

"I think he's going to have my looks". She answered touching the first hairs that where looming over the head.

"It seems like it", he smiled looking at the babe.

* * *

Naharis wanted to give Gendry a "talk" to scare him. Jorah had to stop him from it because the young man was just getting comfortable into their home. "Mistreating him will get us nothing, for what I know he didn't do anything against Daenerys".

"Grey Worm says he's friends with the Starks, and a lover to one of them".

"Exactly, the last thing we need is him feeling so out of place that he goes back to Westeros to tell everyone that Daenerys is here with Jon Snow's son".

Daario huffed, "I'm not happy with this, if he does one thing out of place..."

“Aye, either you or Grey Worm will get rid of him.” Jorah sighed tiredly.

* * *

Jorah was trying to speak _High_ _Valyrian_ again, this time the ruler of Meereen snickered so loud that they attracted the attention of the others. "Maybe you should stick to Dothraki, Mormont".

"Those are my precise thoughts", he grumbled.

"He's getting better, you can't tell because you didn't hear him when he started", Daenerys gave him an encouraging smile. Jorah gave her a little embarrassed smile of his own.

"Well, I hope that the next time I come back, I can actually understand it", Daario quipped.

"We'll teach him better", Missandei answered from her seat. She was the most optimistic of the bunch.

Daario left promising to come back in a few months, this time it hurt less to see him go with Missandei and Grey Worm there as well as Jorah.

* * *

At just a few months old Jaehaerys was a whirlwind on their home. Some nights he wouldn't sleep unless Jorah talked to him and other nights not even Jorah was enough, the moment he was put on the cradle he would wake and wail stronger than before. None of them had the heart to leave him crying for long.

Missandei sometimes wouldn’t even let him cry for longer than a few seconds, and Daenerys was growing tired of always keeping him in arms, not allowed to do much else. On a particularly grueling night with the babe, Jorah sat on the balcony watching the stars as the little infant drooled on his shoulder.

Gendry came out of the door from the hall with two cups and a bottle of Mead. "Hey", he greeted as he sat down next to him and offered a filled cup. Jorah took it gratefully and sipped in silence as the moon glowed above them.

"There's something I been meaning to ask, I didn't know if it would be proper to talk about it with Daenerys", Gendry nervously said.

Jorah was waiting for this conversation, they were all prepared for it. "I'll see what I can do".

"It's just, I remember Tormund talking about Jon and Daenerys as if they were together, and they seemed pretty close in Winterfell…"

"And?"

"It’s just that, if Tormund was right and they were really together… Is that babe theirs or...?" He blurted out.

Jorah gave him a sideways glance seeing nothing more than curiosity in his eyes. He sighed, causing the babe to clench the tiny fist around his finger. "Aye, it is Jon's son".

"Will you ever tell him?"

"That depends completely on Daenerys", he sipped more Mead, "Are you going to tell them?"

Gendry looked decided, "no. Did you know that Joffrey Baratheon killed every single babe and child than could be his father's heir in King's Landing?"

Jorah was surprised to hear that, those kind of news didn't travel far. They had heard some of it, but not the entirety of the story. He put a hand covering Jaehaerys back instinctively. "I didn't".

"There were too many to count. Ser Davos told me, he found out by someone else. I was only saved because I didn't knew he was my father at that time and I was too old to live in the brothels. I could've had so many brothers and sisters…", Gendry stared at Drogon sleeping on the grass near them, "I don't want the same to happen again. I think they wouldn't, someone else might though."

Shortly after that he left back to sleep. Jorah sat contemplating what he said. It seemed that Gendry had been lonely his entire life. He knew about it, he grew up alone as well, despite having his aunt Maege around. Maybe if Joffrey hadn't killed all of his half siblings, Gendry wouldn't be there with them, helping them with anything he could. Jorah didn't know if he should be happy that Joffrey was a the monster everyone talked about or not.

He slipped into the bedroom watchful of waking Daenerys up. Struggling to be as careful as possible to put the infant in his cradle without stirring him up, he placed Jaehaerys in place and thanked the gods that he didn’t woke with a screech.


	12. XII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Drogon misbehaves, Gendry proves to be smarter than the rest and a weird discovery leaves Jorah a bit confused. Also, a bit of fluff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had to split this chapter in two because it was too long. The one that comes next is going to be good, I swear on my honour.

The group of ten Unsullied that Grey Worm called for came by the end of the month. The soldiers interchanged places with the small group that was there already. They were marvelled at seeing the little baby boy in their Queens arms. Jaehaerys had his eyes wide open as Daenerys walked around the house talking to them.

Jorah talked to some of the men, after seeing Missandei they were more used to the idea of having him around. Thought they couldn't stop feeling awe at his presence given the fact that he had been dead for more than a year.

Now that Daenerys had proper guards he could finally relax a little. So he decided to keep working on the field behind the house to plant any kind of vegetables that they could eat. After talking to the farmer who owned the house and acquiring seeds from the man, he went back to work. Begrudgingly, he accepted the help of the worshippers because Drogon had no interest on being near them, which was beneficial for him.

It took them two days to plant the seeds. One to form creases in the land, since it wasn't such a big proportion they were covering. Another day was spent planting the seeds and watering them. The first results would come in a month, in around three they would have a full harvest of vegetables to eat.

Being younger made his life easier. He thought that he couldn't work as hard if he had been his old age, or current but with the old body. A talk with Kinvara had left him confused, she told him that he was just the same as he was supposed to be. Jorah knew that he didn't look like it. Maybe the woman just said that because she hadn't met him before.

He was watering the seeds when Drogon started to fly around the house with a carcass in his mouth. Jorah looked up, covering the sun with his hand to see a little better. The dragon seemed to be looking for the best place to drop his dead animal.

"Don't you dare", he screamed as Drogon stopped on top of the house. Valyrian barked from his spot under the shade of a tree. Drogon released the carcass on what Jorah thought it was the roof, with a thud. Since they hadn't reached the top, none of them knew what was there, but the sound of shattering glass was not good.

Daenerys came out the back with Missandei who had the little wriggly Jaehaerys in her arms. "What happened?" She had heard his scream in warning.

Jorah huffed still watching towards the sun, "Drogon decided to claim the roof as a place to store his food apparently".

Daenerys walked closer to him to stand by his side and look as well, "he's never done this before".

"This is not a good time to try. How are we going to take that down? The doors to the stairs up are locked."

"I'll ask Grey Worm to try to open them."

Missandei stood with them looking up. "Maybe those books that the Priestess gave you say something about it", she suggested.

They agreed to investigate further about it after eating their meal.

* * *

Gendry was having a good time, two Unsullied were working with him at the forgery and his previous assistant had stayed behind instead of going back to Naath. That meant that he had more free time now that the gross of the work was done. He had a few things melting and was training his new assistant to make a better job. He could now spend his afternoons lounging around the house with the others or walking around Volantis.

Walking around the city he found a new thing every day, the market was big enough for him to find a new vendor once in a while. On this particular visit he had money to buy new clothes. The Essosi summer was harder than it was in Westeros and the heat in the forgery didn't help either. So, he had gathered his money to get linen shirts that were easier to use and a few other things.

On his way to the house he met with the captain of the ship that had brought him to Volantis, the man was about to travel back to Westeros. Gendry took the opportunity to ask him for a few things from back home before leaving back to the house. He arrived to find Jorah, Missandei, Daenerys and Grey Worm between piles of books in the library. Daenerys had Jaehaerys on her lap as she read.

"Why are all of you reading?" He asked from the doorway.

Jorah almost growled in frustration after the second book, he lifted his gaze to answer. "Drogon keeps going to the roof to dump half eaten animals on it, he dropped three already."

"He must think you're his younglings", he mused absentmindedly.

"What?" The group stared at him.

"Birds do that with their younglings." There was a moment of silence.Then the four of them stood up abruptly and ran past Gendry.

"Where did you leave them?" Daenerys asked as she went down the stairs. Jorah was the last one to leave the library, clapping Gendry on the shoulder on his way out. "Under the fire in the kitchen."

A confused Gendry trailed after them towards into the kitchen. "What did you leave under the fire?"

Jorah turned and half smiled, "the eggs".

They arrived to the kitchen to find the Unsullied moving things around the fire. Daenerys gave the babe to Jorah and started digging in it. She took one dragon egg out and sat on her folded legs to inspect it. "It's hot".

Jorah gave the babe to Gendry to help her get the other eggs out. Gendry grew stiff not knowing what to do, he had never held Jaehaerys before. The child looked at him with big lilac eyes in curiosity. He begged the gods to help him not to drop the little Targaryen. Missandei and Grey Worm kneeled to help the others.

Grey Worm saw them using their bare hands to move the hot coals as he digged with his knife. Jorah and Missandei took each an egg out, while he tried to bring the one in the back closer to him. He reached for the egg with his fingertips and felt the instant burn on them. The others seemed nonplussed about it. Jorah reached for that egg and gave it to Daenerys.

Gendry saw everything in confusion. He looked at the two Unsullied that worked with him and Grey Worm to confirm that what he was seeing was real. Not only because of the dragon eggs, but also because they had touched them as if it was nothing. He knew for sure, after years working as a blacksmith, that those eggs must have felt like hot coals to anyone not trained to deal with melting steel. But not to them. Daenerys he understood, she was the blood of the dragon, as Targaryens liked to say. The other two, no.

"Doesn't it burn?" He asked Jorah. The blonde man, who was searching the egg in his hands for cracks, turned to look at him. "No."

"Is it warm?"

"A little, yes." Jorah answered, scratching his beard.

"You know that most people would get burn if they put their hands on hot coals, don't you?"

Daenerys raised her head, paying attention to them. She stared at Missandei, she was smiling at the little red orb in her hands. Then she looked at Jorah with his blackened fingers because of the soot on the eggs he touched. Lastly, she saw Grey Worm looking at his burned fingertips.

"Oh", she muttered, "must have been Drogon's fire".

"What?" Gendry became more bewildered. Everyone looked at Daenerys in question.

"Drogon breathed fire on your pyres to bring you back. And also left the eggs in the same place."

Jorah was too astonished to say something. He looked at Missandei. "A good ability to have in a house full of dragons", she said and went back to look at the little egg.

He was still a little unsettled about it. He thought that maybe, without realizing, the people of the temple had done more than just bring them back to life. The wistful look on Daenerys eyes told him that he was right. Grey Worm broke him out of his musings.

"What are we doing with them?", the Unsullied asked pointing to the eggs. Daenerys thought a little before answering. "We should take them to Drogon".

They took the eggs outside and Daenerys gave Drogon the eggs one by one as the dragon curled around the eggs near the balcony of her room. Daenerys didn't knew how to hatch dragon eggs that were not fossilized. They had to keep reading those old books to see if there was any information about it. For now, thought, the news of Jorah and Missandei's new found abilities were enough surprise for one day.

* * *

Jorah woke up as everyone else in the house was making noise. Gendry and his assistants were getting ready to eat breakfast before leaving to the temple. Missandei and Grey Worm were softly padding down the stairs aiming for the kitchen as well. The Unsullied had changed the guard on Daenerys door and since he had been sleeping in his own bed for weeks instead of the cot, he went to see if she needed anything.

He softly rapped his knuckles against the door. When she didn't answer he entered the bedroom slowly. Daenerys was completely asleep with a book on her chest. The dying candles near the bed were testament that she had been reading well into the night.

On the cradle Jaehaerys was playing with his own feet. The babe smiled at him as he reached to take him out of the cradle. At five months old the babe could hold the wooden rattle Daario brought him without assistance. Jorah cooed at the little Targaryen as he changed his nappy and put him in his long shirt. He took the infant back into his arms and turned to see a dishevelled Daenerys smiling fondly at him.

"You could have woken me up", she said as Jorah handed the child to her.

"I thought you needed to rest after reading the entire night", he said as he gave a caress to the rosy cheeked babe. She held his hand before he left the room, "Thank you". He beamed at her and left so she could feed the infant alone.

Downstairs everyone was half awake making their way to the table. Jorah sat beside Gendry, talking about their activities for the day. Missandei and the Andal had spent more time with him than the others. The Naathi, Jorah knew, also forced Grey Worm to make an effort. If he wouldn't talk to the man, at the very least he could try not to glower at the new member of their home with contempt. So, at the moment, despite being recently women up by her voice with a joyous smile, Torgo Nudho had to keep the seriousness out of his face. And the best way to achieve that, was looking at Missandei of Naath once in a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It seemed weird enough to me to bring people back to life using fire for them to get burnt later. IT WAS JUST TOO WEIRD. So, yeah, fire resistant Missandei and Jorah are a thing. However, they are no Targs.


	13. XIII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jorah has an idea and Daenerys changes everything.

Grey Worm had found a way to open the closed doors to the stairs up, or as Missandei had called it, he "tore the problem out". All the Unsullied went up the stairs to clean the other rooms there and the indoor garden that Drogon had been dropping his carcasses into. The good thing was that the dragon only broke one window in the garden, the bad thing was that every plant there was dead, and there were too many of them around. Emptying the garden took them a couple of days, Daenerys was not allowed to go up until everything was cleared.

She huffed in annoyance sitting in the cliff with Jorah, "I lived here when there were rats still roaming around freely".

They watched as Drogon soared just above the water hunting for prey. Jaehaerys was sleeping in the blanket between them. Daenerys had covered the babe so the sun wouldn't bother him, he could get into a really bad mood for lack of sleep. It was best to be safe and let him sleep comfortably.

"I didn't knew Targaryens for grouchiness", Jorah taunted her.

"I just want to see, I'm not going to break anything", she complained, "he even let's Missandei go there".

Jorah couldn't help the laugh. Daenerys had been different since he came back, less regally and more expressive with her emotions. More affectionate towards them too. Hugs, holding hands and kisses on the cheek were a complete surprise to him. It took him a while to get used to it. Grey Worm had been the most surprised, he wasn't used to anyone touching him lovingly except for Missandei.

He had thought it had to do with the pregnancy, but Jaehaerys had been born moons ago. This Daenerys didn't have to deal with the weight of ruling anymore, or the wellbeing of everyone around her. To Jorah she seemed even happier than he had ever seen her before. It was definitely better. He thought that of everyone he had ever met she deserved to be the happiest.

"I think Gendry is in there helping them", Jorah added with mirth. 

Daenerys huffed a bit more. "Are there villagers in there too? Probably even _Valyrian_."

Jorah laughed out loud this time. "Perhaps I could entertain you. I have been thinking about something since I came back."

Daenerys haughtily glanced at him, waiting for another jive. "What are you offering?"

Jorah smiled. "Training, proper training. I want you to learn how to defend yourself and fight, if it's needed."

"I would be a horrible squire", she wrinkled her nose.

"You were good with a sword in Winterfell, you took down a few Wights, without any training."

Her demeanor changed to sorrowful in a second. "Not good enough, I still lost you." She said softly.

Jaehaerys woke up wailing. He got the babe out of the blankets covering him and put him on his lap smiling down at the gurgling child. Missandei who had been hearing their conversation, gave an encouraging smile to her friend from her place. Daenerys hesitated, she wanted to say it, but lacked the courage for it. Of all the things she had done, this admission was the one that made her nervious. She wondered if Jorah felt the same before.

He got up to go look for mead and the moment was broken. She suspired, angry at herself for being such a coward. The Naathi moved to sit beside her. Her friend reassured her that he would react positively, she knew that The Andal loved Daenerys deeply. And she reminder her that there was nothing to fear, he wouldn’t reject her.

Jorah came back to his place and Daenerys sat closer to him, putting her chin on his shoulder and hugging his left arm with her own as they watched the sun go down. _Later_ , she thought, _she would tell him later_.

* * *

Finally, one afternoon Missandei came to look for them at the cliff. Since Daenerys wasn't allowed in until they finished working and leaving her alone would only cause for her to grow impatient, Jorah had been kicked out of the house every morning as well. Although, he wasn't offended as her. Yet her excitement erased any sign of displeasure immediately.

The glass garden took almost the entire roof of the house. The parts that weren't covered, were as big as the balconies on the floor they were using. Daenerys could see the kitchen from her place near the stairs. Now that it was clean, the sun filtered through the window panels all the way down illuminating the stairwell and the kitchen below. She was delighted to see all the different plants and flowers on the place.

Missandei said that they bought some of them from the captain of the ship from Naath and had been keeping them hidden until now. What attracted her attention were the little fruit trees on the sides of apples, pears, peaches, oranges, etc. Especially the two lemon trees, since she had talked about them once in passing to him.

She turned to Jorah with the biggest smile. "This was you, wasn't it?"

He got his ears red in embarrassment. "Missandei asked what would you like and I said those might be a good idea."

"I love them." She put her hands on the trees.

Gendry had collaborated to the garden with a wooden and steel table with chairs. The Unsullied had helped with the process, they all had worked relentlessly to make it quickly but the most beautiful possible. It didn't disappointed her. Each chair had red, orange or yellow pillows on them that Missandei and Grey Worm had bought in the market. They couldn't agree on one colour, so they brought a few of each.

* * *

Daenerys started spending her mornings on the garden. Jaehaerys usually in her arms as she walked from one side to the other. From the top of the house she could see beyond the line of trees behind their home and the beach below it. In the afternoons Jorah would go there to show her different weapons and explain the best way to use them. For now he waited on fighting lessons. After a lesson about armour Jorah noticed that she tried hard to pay attention but failed abysmally.

"You're bored", he sighed.

Daenerys gave up and put her hand on her temple. "I know it's important, I should be more concentrated."

Jorah put his hand on her shoulder for comfort. "It's alright, you don't have to know everything right now. There is time to learn all of these things."

She sighed now. "Yes, but I don't know when I'm going to be in danger. Keep telling me about the chainmail."

"No." He got up from the table. "You're too tired. You won't be able to remember anything I say."

"I can do it." Her saddened lilac eyes showed the displeasure she felt to the fact that she was not doing her best.

Jorah put everything away. "I have to go to the market anyway. We'll continue tomorrow."

"Then I'll go with you and you'll tell me on the way there." She replied quickly.

Jorah smiled at her for being relentless. "Alright."

The two of them went to the market with two Unsullied. Jaehaerys was left behind with Missandei. Daenerys felt hesitant about taking him out of the house in fear that someone attacked them with only a pair of guards. The soldiers took daggers and swords instead of the spears. Jorah advised against them because it would be harder to use spears in such a crowded place.

On the way there he spoke of the chainmail a little more. Not much, he wanted to use the visit to the market to relax. It would be better after a long day talking about the same things. Daenerys knew that he asked her about what they needed at the house to distract her. He knew every single thing they had and what they lacked. She didn't call him on it because she knew he did it more for her sake than his own. On the way back they talked about Drogon and the possibility of having baby dragons around again.

"Have you found anything about how to birth dragons from fresh eggs?"

"No, most of the books are variate on subjects. One of them talks about dragon and changes to harvesting midway. Others have pages about one thing and pages about others. There's some that even talk about blood magic."

Jorah almost shuddered at hearing that, blood magic was usually dangerous and used for evil purposes, they knew it. "We need more sheep." He thought out loud. "Feeding three dragons was a big task, four growing ones and Drogon..."

"They were quite little for a long time, so I think it will be alright for some time." Daenerys remarked.

"And do you have names for them?" He glanced at her sideways.

"I have not thought of names yet. I'll see when they are born."

* * *

That night the group sat on the cliff as Drogon danced above them. Gendry was amazed by the beast flying up and down the cliff and the edge of the house without destroying anything. Drogon had grown more careful in its flight since landing in Volantis. The dragon spent most of his time flying fast near the surface of the water avoiding the fishermen in their boats and the merchant ships.

Jorah had Jaehaerys in his arms, the babe sleeping as all of them talked about their day. Gendry had a communication issue with one of the soldiers as the temple because the man only spoke High Valyrian and he couldn't understand. With reticence he had to ask a Priest to help him with the request the man wanted to make. Missandei and Daenerys had forced a reluctant Grey Worm to spend time with them in the garden instead of patrolling around the house looking for danger. Jorah had been working on the plot until Daenerys dragged him away from it for their lessons. Missandei was the new pupil now that Grey Worm had convinced her to do the same thing.

They were telling Gendry anecdotes about their travels around Essos. He laughed along with them as they drank wine under the light of the moon, the torches and Drogon. Daenerys told him about meeting Jorah with his peacock feathered scabbard and the yellow shirt he had worn for years, even as she offered him time and time again to pay for new ones. Missandei giggled at Jorah's blushing face.

"I had a grey one too". He defended himself, ears red.

"What happened with the scabbard?" Gendry asked him

"I lost it in Old Valyria when the stone men attacked me."

"Oh."

There was a solemn silence. Gendry didn't know why Jorah was alone and the others didn't felt the need to talk about the matter, it had been forgiven and forgotten. In the end Daenerys remembered another story with Daario and Grey Worm in it for all of them to laugh about. To Gendry they all seemed a mismatched family. A soldier, a warrior, a dragon, a former slave and a bear knight. None of them with anything in common, but they had found each other and offered familiarity when there was nothing else to give. And he really enjoyed that, it made him think about Arya. He hoped she was safe.

* * *

The group started going to bed one by one. Gendry was the first, since he had to go early to the temple. Missandei went to look for the babe and took him inside under the pretense that the infant needed a bath with Grey Worm following her. Daenerys knew that he wouldn't leave her alone, so she waited until they were alone.

After a while Daenerys soft voice startled him. "I remember what you tried to tell me when you died."

Jorah gave her a sheepish look. He didn't feel comfortable discussing his love for her at the moment. He swallowed. "You do?"

It came out half rasped, exactly how he didn't want it to sound. The hoarseness of his voice communicated how uncomfortable it made him to talk an issue she never gave him answer about.

“Is that why you did it? Why you put yourself on the way of those Wights blades?”

“Yes.” He answered with the same faith he had in her since he truly got to know her.

There was only one way to change things between them. And she decided to take the opportunity before his life was in danger again. She was not going to make the same mistakes.

Jorah grew more nervous as she silently went into her own mind. He couldn't stand the silence anymore. Apologizing was the only option that came to mind when it came to Daenerys. “I didn’t mean to make you upset.”

Daenerys wiped a tear from her eye, ignoring his apology completely.

"I love you too." She said it looking at his blue eyes. He smiled in turn. A conviction returned to her face, it was time and he wasn’t picking up on her meaning. “I _love_ you. I didn’t love Jon Snow, I loved _you_.”

Jorah was baffled. “Since when?” He muttered in disbelief.

“I can’t tell for sure. I didn’t realize until you died in Winterfell.” She admitted ashamed at being oblivious to her own feelings for so long.

Jorah searched her eyes, to convince himself more than anything that she was telling the truth.

Of all the things he expected Daenerys to do, the kiss was not one of them. Her soft lips descended on him and slided over his slowly, once. The second kiss was deeper, with her lips moving fervently across his ones trying to coax him into movement. The surprise only lasted him a second. He put his arm around her waist, allowing more touch than ever before, as he answered back. He kissed her tenderly, letting her dictate the rhythm of it. Jorah wanted to keep this memory on his mind for as long as he could.

One of her hands curled on the back of his neck as she tasted the one thing she had refused herself to have. And it didn’t feel wrong at all. She broke the kiss to breathe properly as Jorah kept her tightly in his arms. That was something else she didn’t mind either.

He pressed his forehead to her shoulder, reigning his heart to stop plundering inside him. It was the first time he had felt truly alive since coming back. The thundering of his heart in his ribcage was too strong to ignore. It was the best way to prove his stance as an alive person.

She kissed him once more, a mere touch and drew away from him standing up. “We should go to bed.” Daenerys announced.

He was too stunned to give her a reply. He only nodded as she looked at him still sitting on the grass. He stood up clumsily.

With a smirk, Daenerys took his hand. “This time you won’t sleep in that dreadful cot. You can sleep with me.”

Jorah dazedly followed her inside the house and up the stairs into her room. If the gods were taunting him, this was exactly the opposite from torture that he could receive. And if it was torture for all the things he had done wrong before, he didn't care about it. All he cared about was her smile as he took his boots off, her changing into her light blue nightgown behind the changing screen as he courteously looked away, him standing awkwardly in his smallclothes and shirt as she moved to the side to make him room in her bed and Daenerys extending her arm to grab his hand and put his arms around her middle as he crawled into bed behind her. Certainly, if the gods were choosing this as punishment, he didn’t mind at all.

And Daenerys didn’t understand why she said no to his affections for so long when he fitted his arm around her to bring her closer to his chest as he sighed in happiness with his fingers intertwined with her own. Of all the people she had been with, he was the one who felt exactly right. And as she drifted off to sleep, she thought that maybe it was because he was the one who she trusted the most.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I'm going to make this fic Explicit now...


	14. XIV Westeros

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A glimpse into Westeros and the west of Westeros

**_The Iron Islands_** (two months ago)

Yara had received her first ten ships from Quentyn. Her men were excited to test them so she decided to pay a little visit to Bear Island. They were not going to do much, just flaunt their ships around and leave. The Queen in the North didn't have any warships to retaliate with, only the few merchant ships that survived the wars. So she took the men to the port and each group boarded their new vessels.

The sails with the Greyjoy sigil went up. Black sails with yellow krakens in them waved with the wind invitingly. She had given the orders clearly: reach the closest without being threatening, but imposing. This time they aimed to surpass the little island towards the other side of the land, where the Wall ended.

She heard that a lot of castles in the North were empty because the population was too low to maintain and live in them properly. Also, the men were rebuilding the Wall with what was left of The Night's Watch and Southerner help. The Hand of the King had asked her for help and she had begrudgingly sent a few men. Thought Yara didn't had to tell them to do the obvious, the men knew already what to do. A few mistakes here and there would put Sansa in distress but not enough to grant them attention from the Raven.

With the first morning light the group left the Iron Islands towards Bear Island, to see how fast they could sail. Yara took the wheel and steered towards the North hoping for the good winds as she left the island behind.

* * *

**_The Stormlands_** (present)

Brienne had been spending a lot of time with Ser Davos since Gendry left months ago. For the old smuggler it was hard to see him go. In a short span of time he had lost Jon and Gendry, the both boys he had somehow adopted. No one knew anything about Jon, he had left the Wall behind and took his chances with the Wildlings. For Brienne it was a terrible idea. Jaime joked that Northerners always had a need to prove that they were more Northern than all the others.

"Of course he left to the Wildling lands. Where else would a _Kinslayer_ go?" He laughed about it. "Truly, Jon Snow was able to outdo _me._ Not only he killed his own Queen, the one he wanted all of us to bend the knee to, he also managed to kill the last living member of his House. It's truly precious, Brienne."

She couldn't help the snort. Even with his idiotic jokes Jaime made her laugh of something that was abhorrent to think about. Jon Snow, the embodiment of honor, killed someone in the most dishonorable way of the History of the Seven Kingdoms. It was an incident that would be written in their history until the end of times. Surely someone had started to sing about it in some tavern across the King's Road.

Thinking back to Ser Davos, she saw how grumpier the man had become since Gendry left. He snapped at everyone, particularly to the men building the ships for Westeros. Jaime didn't care, after years serving Robert _and_ Cersei, an angry Onion Knight was nothing.

"Do you think we should spend more time with Ser Davos?" She asked Jaime one morning. The lion scoffed in return. "No."

"But he's lonely." She replied.

Jaime raised an eyebrow. "Then give him Pod."

"He's not a _horse_ for me to give away."

"He kinda is…"

"Jaime, be serious!" Brienne snapped.

"Alright." He lifted his golden hand to placate her. "Let's visit him and see if he needs anything. Only to see…"

So that's how the two of them and Podrick found themselves going from the island of Tarth to Storm's End a week later. Jaime knew that she planned to stay more than what she said. If her packing was any indication, she was moving into the castle.

Davos complained about the new ships the entire day. The were too big, too slow, the sails were not shaped correctly, etc. Jaime egged him on with his comments and Brienne wanted to strangle him. 

Pod tried to change the subject. "Have you heard anything about Gendry?"

Ser Davos huffed in annoyance. "Not one single letter, nothing. I don't know where he is, what he's doing or if he's alive. He could have been enslaved for all we know. Essos is not know for the amount of cities that have free people in them. It's been moons since he left!"

Jaime added his two cents. "And a man like Gendry, with his fighting skills… He must be in the fighting pits already."

Brienne looked murderous now. She kicked him under the table so hard he half shouted in surprise. "Do you really have to be such a pain?" She angrily whispered at him. Jaime gave her a look, as if saying 'yes, yes I have to be'.

That night they were lying in bed when Jaime asked out of nowhere, "But what if he _is_ in the fighting pits".

Brienne growled in frustration. "Do not, and I repeat, _do not_ say that to Ser Davos again."

Jaime wiggled his eyebrows, "I always knew you could growl".

"You're impossible."

* * *

**_Beyond the Wall_ ** (present)

Jon had been depressed since he left King's Landing. The others had met him as a brooding Lord Commander so they didn't see any major change in him. He was hiding his sadness well. He only broke down when he knew he was completely alone. Tormund had his own sorrows as well considering Brienne had been stolen from him by Jaime 'fucking' Lannister.

On top of everything it was becoming harder to live beyond the wall than ever before. There were no animals around to hunt. Either the Night King had wiped them out during the Long Night or the critters had run away from the army of the dead for hiding and were still there. Fish was the only thing that they had for months. Not one vegetable had grown.

One of the women had said that the land was cursed while all of them sat in the hut to eat. The silence that followed the statement made Jon realise that everyone believed the same. It seemed cursed to him as well. Tormund told them to wait until the Winter was over in their land. It always lasted longer than in the South of the wall. If by the end of Spring they couldn't grow anything still… they would move back closer to the Wall. The Free Folk had survived worse, he reminded them.

During the nights he huddled closer to Ghost trying to sleep. He never achieved more than a few hours, the guilt ate him away when he was completely alone. Some days the pain in his chest felt as if he had put that dagger through his one heart, instead of hers. On those occasions he wished he had.

* * *

**_The Wall_ ** (present)

Sansa had been dealing with what was left of the North well. Until Bran asked her to fix the Wall and help the Night's Watch. The North didn't had the food or the men to spare. She was making miracles to support the men at the Wall. But they lacked food and people. Only a handful of men were left from the Night's Watch and Bran had sent too many people to help from the South and too little food. Still, she was succeeding, barely.

That was until the Ironborn showed up. They only brought cases of Dornish wine and food for them. Sharing was out of the question. Except with the delegation from Dorne. When the new Lord Commander asked for them to share with the rest, all the men leered and laughed at him. So she had to go and ask for the food at the very least. They could keep their wine.

The man in charge just shrugged saying: "You're not my _Queen_ ", and left her behind.

She bristled with rage and demanded in her most commanding and regal tone to hand the food to the kitchens. "The people need the food more than you. You have more than enough to spare."

The man kept walking ahead without looking back. "They're not starving."

She catched up to the man at a brisk pace. "There's just enough for them to be fed. The food carts barely arrive in time."

The man reached his room at the Wall and turned smirking at her. "It's not my fault no one came with their own supplies. Goodnight, _Your Grace."_

Sansa fumed and left. She would have to ask for more food from Tyrion. The Northerners were just starting to prepare the lands for planting seeds. Too many people had died in their realm. That meant that getting their grains in full stock once again would take months. At least House Reed had not suffered from the onslaught of the army of the dead. But a lonely House could not feed all of the survivors.

  
She sent ravens to Tyrion and Bran. Hopefully her brother would answer this time. She wanted to know _when_ she could sent the pardon to Jon. The discontent of the Dornish people and the enmity of the Ironborn showed that it would be a long time without him around. Especially now that he had abandoned his place at the Wall to do a 'scouting mission' on the lands beyond.

* * *

**_King's Landing_** (present)

Bronn was having the time of his life. His brothels were striving and the people of Highgarden listened to him when he asked them to start planting legume and cereal. If he kept it up, by the next winter Highgarden was going to become the place to go to for food. And he was already planning on charging double the price to all of those who didn't think about getting ready for it. He thought that he could even charge higher prices to the North now that they weren't part of the realm.

_How much money can I ask from them without having the girl complaining to her brother?_ He thought.

He hummed to himself as he walked around the Red Keep. There was a meeting with the council today. He already knew how it went: Sansa Stark needed more food. And Tyrion wanted to give it to her as well. The council meeting was just a formality. He came around the table and sat on his usual place. The new Masters of whatever had been filling their positions for months and he still didn't care to learn their names.

As always Tyrion asked about the situation of the realm. Everyone was content according to the Master of Whispers. There was no war looming ahead. The common people were neither happy nor unhappy. Which was better than nothing. Jaime had come with Brienne to comment here and there just to annoy Tyrion and her. Lastly, Tyrion put the scroll with the Wolf on the table to show them what was being asked, again.

"Sansa Stark has asked for more food for the construction of the Wall. Anyone in favour raise your hands."

"Why do we keep giving free food to that girl? She's not even part of our realm anymore." One of the new Masters asked.

Tyrion huffed, "because she's building the Wall with her people and the North needs it after the Great War. Also, it's common decency."

"Yet Lord Edmure Tully asked for food on the last meeting and you charged him for it. Also, you loaned him Highgarden money to rebuild his castles. The ones your own brother destroyed during a siege."

Jaime froze, that's why they should not have brought Lord Dondarrion to the council. The man was a Baratheon loyalist till the very end. Even with no Baratheons around. And he did remember the rumours that Robert's children weren't his own.

Tyrion was regretting calling the man to join the council already. "The North has lost too much in too little time. They are feeding our own citizens at the Wall as well. It's not just giving things for free. The Wall protect us all. Not just them."

The man looked at him in the eyes. "The way I see it, it protected no one when it fell. And she benefits the most from it, certainly not me, since it's not around my home. And let me remind you that I did not see this great undead army you talk so much about."

Brienne intercepted the man, "Lord Dondarrion, your own nephew died fighting in that war."

"Ha! Beric was a nutter since the moment he started spending his time with Thoros of Myr and believed his stories that came from the flames. He's the last person I'd believe."

"We were all there!" She gave him an incredulous look.

"That's what you say." The man retaliated.

Samwell was the one who tried to calm down everyone. "We are going off course here, My Lords."

"Exactly, why did that girl asked for independence when she can't even feed her own people. She's not our problem to deal with, not anymore. Charge her for the food like you do anyone else, Lannister." Lord Dondarrion didn't relent.

"Fine, all in favour of selling food to the Kingdom of the North raise your hands." Tyrion almost growled.

He didn't expect all of the new Masters to raise their hands, or Bronn. It was the Master of Whispers, the Master of War, the Master of Lords _and_ Coin against him, Brienne, Ser Davos and Samwell.

"We have come to a tie." He wished to drown himself in the Narrow Sea.

"Then we should flip a coin", Bronn suggested.

"Or ask the King for his final decision", Samwell recommended.

Tyrion sighed, "Podrick, can you bring the King in?"

Pod brought Bran after an uncomfortable silence had filled the room. The King listened to the arguments in complete calmness. The new Masters made their point against Tyrion.

Even Bronn did. "Every sack of food sent to the North for free is a dent to the riches of Highgarden. _The Reach_ did not get their gold by giving things away."

The Three Eyed Raven solemnly listened and made his decision. "The Kingdom will not give more food for free to the North. And every delegation that goes up to the Wall to help will bring its own supplies. The Ironborn are already doing it."

The meeting ended and Tyrion followed Bran out. "Your Grace, could you please reconsider your decision? The people of the North need this. They are counting on it."

"We cannot give away for free to Sansa what we charge to our own. Lord Dondarrion is right."

"She's your sister." Tyrion implored.

Bran looked him into the eyes. "Not…"

"...Anymore. I know." Tyrion sighed. He felt he could scream in disappointment. The raven to Sansa was not something he was looking forward to writing. Thought he had an idea. "What if the Westerlands send her the food? Surely no one would mind that the Lannisters help the North after everything that happened between our Houses. It would be a sign of goodwill."

Bran nodded. "Yes, that would be acceptable."

"Good, I'll write her right now". It was a small victory, but Tyrion would take whatever he could get.

"Can you also tell her that now is not the right time? She'll understand." Bran said before asking to be wheeled away by Pod.

* * *

**_West of Westeros_ ** (months ago)

Arya was facing a problem, the supplies had reached the half of what they had. She could either go forward or turn back home. The men were starting to get nervous. She hesitated for days, without knowing what to do. A storm kept them in fear of sinking and in the end she chose to go back home. There were going to be other opportunities to explore with a bigger ship and a more reliable crew. 

* * *

**_Bay of Ice_ ** (present)

Yara was steering her ship towards home again. She felt satisfied that Quentyn had build them ships that were even quicker than the ones they had before. She would never forget the look on the bear islander fisherman who saw them pass by him. The old man clutched his knife to his chest as if waiting for his death. They only waved him goodbye and kept going forward.

The screams from the other vessels caught her attention. The other captains were waving at them, screaming to look ahead. She didn't quite catches what they meant. Steering closer to them brought the voices closer with the wind. One of her man was able to hear clearly and screamed from below to do what they asked. She covered her eyes to see the rays of yellow, orange and red sunlight filtering through them astounded at the view.

* * *

**_King's Landing_ **(present)

Tyrion was woken roughly by Bronn. It was too early in the morning, he hated been up when not even the sun was shining. The tavern was completely empty as they stumbled their way out under the light of a lonely torch in Bronn's hand. A Kingsguard had come to look for them per request of the King. They walked grumbling to themselves as the Knight took them to the other side of the city.

"What do you think the King wants?" Tyrion asked.

"The fuck do I know. I only hope he has food with him because I'm starving." Bronn complained.

They arrived at the edge of the port, Bran was there waiting for them with a few members of the Kingsguard. Bronn felt uneasy being around him. The boy always seemed aloft and a bit of a creep. And he had met creeps, but the Raven was a different level of uneasiness on his stomach.

"Your Grace". He greeted.

"I hope you didn't bring us here to do stargazing, Your Grace." Tyrion huffed, the wine he had consumed the day before giving him a headache.

"No, that's not why I've called you. You'll see in a moment." He called for a knight to move forward. "There is food on that basket. We should eat until then."

Bronn took the food a little mistrustfully. Did the boy know he had just complained about hunger? To be sure, he waited for Tyrion to eat first. When he was sure there was no poison in it, he ate. They munched in silence. Bran had a faraway look in his eyes.

"Now." The King said out loud. Bronn's heart almost stopped in his chest.

"Now what?" Tyrion asked.

Bran pointed to the skies. "Do you see it?"

They aimed their eyes up. Tyrion had a half eaten piece of bread on his hand. Other people arrived at that moment. Brienne, Ser Davos and Samwell had been called too. Also the other Masters. Jaime and Pod trailed behind the stormlanders.

A red comet shone brightly in the morning sky.

Everyone was too transfixed by it to complain about the hour. "It looks like the one from a few years ago," Brienne whispered.

"It does". Bran replied calmly. "It means dragons have been born again."

Tyrion dropped his bread in shock. Bran had not been able to locate Drogon for months. That could only mean there was a Targaryen roaming around with eggs on it's person again. And they knew that Jon didn't have any. So that only left them with the sour question of who would come for them now. What he didn't understand was the little smile the King had in his face.


End file.
